Tutelage
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: 25 years after Origins and Victor is blending in to a new life.  Mutants are legal, if not completely accepted, and he finds a new mutant right under his nose.  Can he teach her to use what is developing?  Victor/OC  Origins Style
1. Chapter 1

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

XXXXXXX

"And x over y squared equals positive or negative eight." He wrote the last part of the equation on the whiteboard and capped the pen with a forceful click. "Any questions?" He paused. "If not, I have a few announcements. I will not be in class next week, my TA will cover the rest of chapter nine. The mid-term exam is two weeks from Wednesday, so please study, and Katherine Gracefield, please remain after class."

She groaned. What did he want? She knew he wasn't sucking up to her dad like more than a few of her other professors had, she wouldn't have passed Algebra I without a little sycophanting, but he was different. The others owed their jobs to Dean Gracefield, but not him. He'd been tenured before her father made chair and. It was no secret in the Math and Sciences Department that the chair was out to get rid of Professor Creed. Not that he could, Professor Creed was one of the best advanced calculus and physics professors the college had, and even her dad admitted Creed was a better teacher than he was.

This was the first time she'd been asked to stay after classes and knew it was her grades. Before the Professors had 'adjusted' them so she wouldn't fail, but she knew Creed wouldn't do a favor for her dad. She had to pass this class. Dean Gracefield expected nothing less than a PhD in Applied Mathematics from his only child and would not take no for an answer, even if she didn't even understand what she was supposed to learn in class.

She waited until the last students left the room before getting up from her seat at the back and walking slowly to the desk up front, her bag digging into her shoulder.

"What is this?" He dropped her last quiz paper on the desk. "How the hell did you even...never mind I know how. Your father isn't going to help you this time. Hell, I don't know how you passed business math much less algebra." He was calm but it was a controlled calm, like when a person wants to break something and is holding themself back.

"I have to pass..." She started.

"Not in my class you don't." He said. "My advice, withdraw and go someplace else where your talents would be useful - basketweaving maybe." She flinched.

"Please, Professor Creed, if I don't pass this class my dad will kill me." She meant it, at least he'd kick her out in the street with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her dad didn't suffer failure in anything.

"That's not my problem."

"Please..."

"You have until the mid-term exam, if I don't see any improvement I am recommending you for Academic Probation and investigation into your record for academic misconduct. I'd hit the tutoring lab if I were you." She grabbed the paper on the desk and ran from the room.

"Stupid frail, never shoulda passed pre algebra, what were those idiots thinking?" She heard him mumble...under his breath...from down the hall. She shook her head. She had to have imagined it.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

He'd caught the scent a week ago, tracked down which student was manifesting, and he'd be damed if it wasn't the Gracefield kid. It would have to be the spoiled kid of the prick out to get him canned. They couldn't touch him on the mutation, the new Equal Rights for Genetic Anomalies Act put a stop to discrimination based on mutation, besides he had 15 years tenure, they weren't going to fire him unless he did something really stupid, and for the last fifteen years he'd been very careful. His little trip would keep the beast at bay just a bit longer, until his Summer Sabbatical, and Fury had a few jobs lined up for him to satisfy it for a long while.

He grumbled under his breath as he gathered his books and notes to take back to his office. James would laugh at him, after all these years in academia, if he knew. As yet, the Runt was still memoryless and a lap dog of Xavier. That old man was still cheating death, and preaching morals and ethics to young mutants, the hypocrite.

He slammed his office door and heard the TA outside squeak in terror. He grinned, yes a week away was going to help. He couldn't afford to lose another assistant this semester. It was hard enough getting one to agree to work with him in the first place.

He dropped into the chair behind his desk. He looked up at the huge mirror mounted on the wall across from him. He laughed out loud. His hair was pulled back in a tie, since Fury recruited him six years ago, he'd refused to cut it, just on principle. It hadn't been this long since the Statue of Liberty. He grinned at himself. The steel grey eyes glinted with humor, but he could see the blood lust burning in their depths. His face hadn't aged, not in over one-hundred and fifty years, and wouldn't for another hundred and fifty barring unforeseen circumstances. He was dressed in a button down shirt and jeans and even he chuckled at the pocket protector...it looked frail, but reduced the dry cleaning bill.

Since SHIELD froze his assets he'd been living on his Professor's salary. Sometimes he missed the luxury, his homes, unlimited funds to do what he wanted when he wanted, but only sometimes. He liked teaching, liked what he was doing, as long as the animal stayed at bay.

He sorted through the papers on his desk, piling the un-graded homework and quizzes for the TA while he was gone. He organized his notes and put them in a folder for her to use in the lectures next week. He had supervision of the math lab tonight, so he collected some of his research to work on while the idiots drove the TAs insane. He seriously doubted the Gracefield kid would take his advice. Why should she, her father might be a prick, but he was one of the best mathematical minds of his era, she could just go to daddy for help with his class, just like she'd done before.

He thought about the rumors, that a few of her teachers had tried to take advantage of her, and dismissed them out of hand. No one in the Math and Sciences department would dare touch the Dean's kid, not if they wanted to keep their job. But... He remembered the smell of fear, not the scared kind, pure terror he'd smelled when he threatened to turn her in for Academic Misconduct.

No, it had been when she said her father would kill her. She was terrified of her father. He glanced in the mirror and watched the cold, humorless smile spread across his face. He had a weapon. He wasn't sure how he would use it yet, or even if he would need it, but having it was another layer of security in his carefully created public persona.

XXxxxxxxxxxx

She dragged herself across campus to the dorm. She refused to live with her dad, she loved him, she just couldn't live with him. She made up one excuse after another, a disabled room mate, the extra money in her savings account from the faculty discount on her room and board. As long as she made Sunday dinners and stopped by twice a week to run a vacuum and clean the bathrooms - he was too cheap and to hire a maid and too disinterested to do it himself - he didn't really care where she lived.

Her head was pounding, not her usual 'I hate math' headache, but like her skull was trying to split in two. Her jaw even hurt like something was trying to push through it. She stumbled and fell on the side walk.

"Are you okay?" A girl asked as she pulled Kathy back to her feet.

"Yeah, just tripped I guess," Kathy said. "Thanks." The girl nodded and ran off toward a group of students that stopped and stood watching her.

She grabbed her bag strap tighter and started walking past.

"Freak!" One of them shouted as she hurried past. She shuddered. Why were they calling her a freak? She looked down, avoiding anyone and everyone until she reached the elevator in the dorm. Usually she took the stairs up the three flights to her room, but her head hurt too much. She thought it was going to explode in the elevator, and she stumbled out the doors as soon as they opened.

She dropped on her bed, ignoring her roommate who looked up from her books as the room door slammed behind Kathy.

"Pissed much?" Valarie asked.

"No, just in pain. My head is killing me - and my stomach."She said as she curled into a ball on the bed.

"Kath, you're burning up." Valarie's hand felt like ice in her neck. "Let me get you some Tylenol." Kathy shook her head violently.

"No, it would just come right back up." She moaned. "Just let me try to sleep."

She heard Val walk back to her desk. "I was just trying to help."Kathy heard Val mutter. It was barely a whisper but Kathy heard it clearly.

Everything around her hurt, her eyes ached, and only really stopped when she closed her eyes. Her ears were throbbing and it seemed as if she could hear everything, the sound of Val flipping pages was nearly deafening. Her clothes were painful on her skin, as if made of sand or broken glass. Her mouth tasted horrible, the overpowering mint of her mouthwash that morning making her gag uncontrollably, and for some reason some of her teeth felt longer.

She curled tighter into a ball, and pulled her pillow over her head. That helped to muffle the noise - and somehow the god awful stench that seemed overpowering in the room.

Xxxxxxxxx

He finished up in his office and shut off the light. Just a few hours and he would have some relief, something to sate the burning need to feel the blood on his claws. He blamed himself - and James a little, if it hadn't been for the Runt he could have just hidden in the wilderness, hunted animals for the bloodlust and just avoided humans and their mess. But he'd had Jimmy to take care of, feed, clothe, teach, and the best way to teach him what he was - was war. Now the occasional animal kill just made him want more. He could sometimes get enough thrill from the hunt, but the only thing that sated it was hunting the most dangerous predator on the planet - man, in all its myriad forms. He had a hunt next week, and should be back in control when he returned to class.

He climbed into his black SUV, and rested his hands on the wheel, his claws itching and he allowed himself to let them lengthen. He stretched his back and smiled, the tinted windows allowing him the small moment of privacy away from the prying eyes of the students that passed. He started the car and turned on the vent to get the scent of baked leather out of the car before he drove off.

The Gracefield kid walked past her head slumped, and even through the glass of the car he could smell the pain radiating from her. He almost let it go, but another scent came through the vents, he knew she was manifesting a mutation but he hadn't expected this. She was feral. He leaned back and grinned watching her walk past. That changed things a bit. He didn't have time to check on it now, but if she was developing a healing factor, whatever pain she was in should be gone by next week. She was late coming into her power, and it would progress faster because of it. Jimmy had taken years, from the time the claws came out, Victor barely remembered when his started, he'd been so young, he almost couldn't remember a time without it.

He put the car in gear and backed out of his spot. He'd check on her next week when he got back, right now, SHIELD was waiting, and he had a gang of anti mutant thugs in New York City to deal with.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely. Typed this on my Blackberry so excuse any typos, my fingers are just NOT that small.

XXXXXXX

She glared at the page in front of her, hoping the squiggles and letters and numbers would suddenly make sense. She had ear plugs in, that seemed to help with the hearing problem, she could hear when people were talking without hearing what they were saying down the street. She'd discovered a whole new realm of music, if you can call it that. At night while most everyone was asleep she sat at the window of her dorm room and listened to the wind in the grass and trees. It was better than any man made sound.

The headache was still pounding and she only had the weekend left to get this or fail the mid term. She'd spent the last week either in the Math Lab or in her room studying. She'd started wearing gloves to hide the strange claws that replaced her fingernails, and refused to smile, the elongated teeth made her look like some kind of monster.

She nearly gagged at a sudden and horrible smell in the room.

"What is thay God awful smell?"

"Air freshener, you bought it." Val said, her tone sharp.

"Sorry, must have developed an allergy or something." Kathy muttered. Val opened the window and Kathy cringed as the television blared to life, loud even through the ear plugs.

"...other news, a strange turn in the gang war in New York City, 9 members of the Ochora Gang with ties to the Humans First movement were found dead in Central Park. All the victims had the same cause of death, they had been mauled by a large animal. What is strange is that all the bodies were laid out in a distinctive pattern." Kathy turned to look at the screen the aerial shot showed police around a group of bodies laid out in the letters K G. She felt a chill down her spine, and looked at the long talons on the end of her fingers. She shook her head, it couldn't have anything to do with her.

"Freaky...I'm staying at Frank's tonight, unless you need anything. Kathy just shook her head. There was something wrong with her nose, Val was starting to smell like a really good steak or pork chop and it made Kathy hungry just to be around her. The problem was she hadn't been able to eat for days, the cafeteria food smelled rotten and it turned her stomach to try to eat there. On Tuesday she'd gone to vacuum her dad's house and found a thawed steak in the fridge. She'd been so hungry she'd cut bites off it in the skillet as she'd cooked it, pulling it just as it got warm and ate it almost raw. It still tasted half rotten but she'd eaten it anyway. She hadn't been able to eat anything else since.

Val scuttled out of the room, a small bag in her hand, and Kathy finally breathed a sigh of relief. She turned the TV down to a bearable level and looked longingly at her bed. She needed sleep almost as much as she needed something to eat, but she had to pass this exam. She pulled the plugs out of her ears and adjusted the TV volume one more time. They were still talking about the gang killing in New York. Her headache suddenly stopped.

It took her a second to realize her head wasn't pounding anymore. That frightened her almost more than all the changes combined. She glanced down at the problem on the page, and her attempts to solve it, and something clicked. She erased half the solution and tried something else. She flipped to the back of the book and shocked herself by having the right answer.

Ten problems later she pushed the book away from her, fear coursing through her veins. She'd even tried things they hadn't covered yet, advanced formulas, and those were right too. She decided a shower might be a good idea.

She stood under the hot water, her skin turning a dark red as she washed her hair over and over. She put unscented body wash on a mesh scrubbing ball and started to scour her skin. As she was running the lather over her arm she noticed it turning pink, the a dark red as the shower filled with a copper and iron scent. She put her arm under the water and gasped at the long scratches on her arm, not that they were there, but as they closed before her eyes and the last of the blood rinsed away leaving no sign of the injury. She could feel the water cooling as she ran her nails over her skin again, hissing at the pain, but watching, fascinated as the skin healed over. She dropped to the floor of the shower stall and cried as she sliced across her wrist diagonally, watching the blood pump out for a few seconds, then heal again. She didn't feel the moisture on her face as the cooling water poured down on her head.

XxxXxxxxxxx

He couldn't believe how stupid the stunt in New York had been. Spelling her initials in bodies and blood. She was just a fucking student. He could feel the animal raging against him at that thought. He pushed it back into its cage and tried to clear the thoughts of having her on all fours in front of him, head hanging down, her light brown hair hanging off one shoulder as he pounded into her, leaning over and sinking his fangs into the curve of her neck, claiming her as his mate.

He shook his head. It wasn't going to happen. The repercussions to his career would be detrimental to say the least. He walked past the dorm buildings on his way to his faculty apartment when he caught the smell of blood - and lots of it.

He ducked behind a bush and thanked his lucky stars this side of the building was in shadow. He dug his claws into the mortar between the bricks and climbed up until the scent was over powering. The window to the room was open and he casually noticed the calculus book open on the desk. Someone had sprayed one of those chemical air fresheners and it was playing havoc with his nose. He could smell the blood, but the scents of those who lived in the room were eluding him. He followed the blood scent to the bathroom.

She was curled into a ball, the streaming shower running cold on her body. He lifted her out of the six inch pool of blood that flowed over the lip of the shower and onto the bathroom floor. Her hair had partially blocked the drain and as soon as she was on her feet, leaning against him it started to drain. He pushed her under the shower stream, rinsing the blood off of her body and looked for any open wounds. He pushed her hair out of her face and realized who he was supporting. The first thought was that his animal had a good imagination, all the details were anatomically correct. The next thing he noticed were her eyes, looking at him hungrily, as if he were a steak on a platter. She was leaning dangerously over one arm and he shifted her support to his side, without thinking. That put her head on his shoulder, and her mouth against his throat. Later he would kick himself for a fool, but as he reached to turn off the water she moved slightly, and he felt a sudden piercing pain in the juncture between his throat and chest. He let out a roar, and his vision flooded red. The animal took control.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was scent that woke her up, or the lack of it. The first scent she noticed was the scent of leather, but over that something was missing. Everything smelled clean, nothing reeked of bad gym socks or stale beer and sex. The air smelled like a pine forest, it was overwhelming, but a nice change from the dorm.

She slowly sat up, expecting her head to start pounding as soon as she did, another pleasant surprise when it didn't. She heard movement and opened her eyes. She was in the back seat of a large black SUV. The door next to her feet was yanked open by Professor Creed. She glared at him for a moment until she realized he was holding his hand out to help her out of the car.

The suddenness of sound assaulting her unplugged ears made her realize that the car was soundproof. She could hear birds, the chirping of squirrels and other small rodents, and somewhere she heard a strange scraping noise.

"If you concentrate on just one sound the others fade to a dull white noise." He said, offering no other explanation. She climbed slowly out of the car. She picked out a different scent, one that caused her heart to race. The coppery-iron scent of blood. It was on his shirt, and it was then she realized she wasn't wearing anything but a blanket.

"What...?" She started, but he just helped her out of the car and wrap the blanket around her before easing her down onto a rock.

"What do you remember about this evening?" He asked softly, as if trying not to scare her. Too late for that, she thought.

"I went to take a shower..." She started. "...and every thing else is blank."

"Is it?" He growled, actually growled, and she noticed his teeth were elongated like hers. She closed her eyes. She got in the shower and was scrubbing herself when she cut herself and her arm healed.

"I cut myself with these damned new fingernails and it stopped bleeding and healed right in front of my eyes. I just kept cutting my arm and watching it heal, then everything is blank." She said, just as softly, something was wrong.

He nodded. "So you weren't trying to kill yourself, not that you could, trust me."

She shook her head. "No, I just couldn't stop watching it."

"Good, then all we are dealing with is blood loss, not a suicide attempt." He sat on another rock. "I don't deal with all that depression crap, most people who pull that on me end up dead."

"You just don't care enough to stop them?" She asked.

"No they annoy the shit out of me and - usually - I rip their throat out." He glared at her. She gulped.

"Nope no suicide." She said.

"You'll get used to the healing, its one of the nicer parts of this." He waved his hand as if encompassing the world. "The senses you learn to control, touch and taste are the two hardest to get used to. Natural fiber, washed several times before you wear it helps with the skin, and no polyester or rayon it will cut you like glass."

She just stared at him. Why was he telling her this, how did he know?

"They call it a feral mutation, and from your reactions at least a class four or five. You have heightened senses, all of them, the external characteristics help identify which subclass of feral you are, I'd say feline, just by lookin'." He looked at the hand holding the blanket tight around her. He stood and walked over to kneel in front of her. He took her hand roughly and pulled it out into the open and pressed her palm to his. She watched in horrified fascination as his fingernails extended almost six inches from the tips of his fingers. She looked at her own hand and watched hers extend as well, and almost as long. Suddenly she understood. He knew because he was one and somehow decided to help her understand as well.

"So why'd I black out?" She asked.

"One of two reasons, either a, your animal took complete control of your body which I doubt, you'd remember what you did, just wouldn't have any control over it; or, b, you lost too much blood and your body went into shut down survival mode." He went back to his rock and she noticed him pulling on the collar of his shirt.

"So if I healed up, where'd that blood come from?" She pointed to his shirt.

"You bit me." He said simply.

"Oh." She huddled deeper in the blanket. She was distracted by a scent, like someone just dropping a nice thick steak on a grill. Not after it had cooked a minute but that first smell of heated blood on metal. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to figure out where the scent was coming from.

"You smell it? That's prey. You hunt it, kill it, eat it." She looked at him stunned. He wanted her to hunt like this. Her growling stomach and something that roared to life in the back of her head pushed her out of the way in her own body...it was like he'd said, she was aware of what her body was doing but she had no conscious control.

She watched in amazement as she threw off the blanket and dropped to all fours and took off running through the woods. She was following her nose, looking for that delicious smell. She somehow found herself in the top of a tree looking down on a clearing with a cluster of deer. She felt her body let go of the tree and drop down on one of the animals, her hand under the jaw of the animal as she leaned in and, with her teeth, ripped the animal's neck open, its life-blood flowing onto the ground as her weight forced it down.

He came up, on all fours, but with a long knife in his hand. He snarled and growled at her until she backed away from her kill and he quickly took the head and skin from the carcass, then left her to go back to his own kill. She snarled, then leaned in and with her sharp claws cut the ribcage of the animal open and reached in to pull out the still pulsing heart.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He watched her, on her haunches, biting off chunks of meat almost faster than she swallowed it. She really must have let her blood level get dangerously low.

"When did you eat last?" He asked as he licked his claws, nothing was better for a feral than raw red meat, pure protein, but on this modern world, places like his little refuge were hard to find.

She shook her head, and he knew she was trying to take control of the animal. She would learn, he wasn't going to give her the choice. He'd had to learn to merge both halves of his mind, his brother hadn't made things easy growing up, and Victor still couldn't understand why Jimmy fought so hard to keep them separate. Victor was going to teach this one right, to learn from the animal and rational minds.

"Tuesday." She said finally. She was staring at the lump of meat in her hand.

"That explains it." He ripped a piece off the rear haunch of the doe he'd killed. After New York he needed a little replenishment himself.

"Why'd you bring me here?" She shrugged her shoulders and took another, smaller bite of meat.

"When I found you, I just thought it was another suicide, but then I saw your eyes and I knew you were a danger to others. You needed to hunt, and its better if you hunt animals." He emphasized the last word. He'd lost the choice along the way, but she had a chance to do this thing right.

"What do you hunt?"

"Man." He watched her eyes widen, and expected the usual scent of fear. She surprised him again.

"That was you in New York?" She asked.

"Yes." He ripped off a bite of meat, hoping she'd take the hint. He wasn't in the mood for dinner conversation.

"Why?"

"Someone paid me." He growled.

"No, why my initials.". Shit, she'd put that part together, too.

"Eat, you need to build up your blood." She took another bite, but stared at him expectantly.

"Why'd you bite me, in the shower?" He countered, knowing she didn't have the answer.

"I don't know."

"There's your answer." He growled back. The less she knew about the marks right now the better.

"How old are you, my dad says you've got a portrait somewhere that ages for you?" He chuckled. She at least changed the subject to one he was willing to discuss.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll spill my guts on the healing, if you shut up and eat." She nodded and took another small bite.

"I'm two hundred and twelve years old. The healing heals everything including the damage of time. My brother is four years younger than I am. If you over extend it too much your body will age, and if you get it early, it does allow you to reach your optimal maturity stage before it starts stopping degeneration."

"You have a brother?"

"Shut up and eat." He reminded her. "My healing is one of the highest rated in the world, along with my brother. It looks like yours will come close."

He could see the question in her eyes. "I've been watching you all night, you aren't winded for someone not used to the exertion you put out, the doe cut your leg with a hoof when you tackled her, you didn't even notice, little things."

He watched her, the more he talked, the faster she ate. "Jimmy and I were on our own early, he was just a kid, maybe eleven and I had to take care of him. I tried, his mutation developed faster than mine, I think it was because it started later. I can't remember a time when I didn't have my claws or fangs, the whole thing was just always there for me. It may be why I'm stronger, and bigger. He was always sick as a kid. As his big brother I had to take care of him, teach him to be like me. I tried the woods but he just wouldn't learn to hunt. I tried things like logging camps but spent most of my time keeping him out of trouble. Then came the war."

"What war," She asked, then quickly took another bite.

"Civil War they call it now...we joined up, and that's where I learned to hunt men. Now...these are just food, no thrill, no challenge. It kept getting worse. At first I could leave it on the battle field, but war after war that was harder and harder to do. I was constantly hunting, killing, until one day James had enough and left me. He somehow kept a conscience, somehow kept the human from blending with the animal until I can't tell sometimes where one ends and the other begins."

She'd stopped eating and he grinned. "Let's get this butchered up. Anything that hasn't been chewed on goes to the old guy that looks after this place for me. He'll either sell it or freeze it and use it."

He pulled out his knife and started cutting up his own kill.

Xxxxxxxxxx

She watched him cutting the meat into manageable pieces. "What about the heads and hides?"

"I use those to make my hunting gear." He said as she watched. He quickly had the animal quartered and she realized he'd kept most of his "meal" confined to one quarter.

She looked down at hers. Most of the internals, heart, liver, kidneys were gone. There was quite a bit of meat off one foreleg but the rest of the animal was intact. He quickly processed hers as well and, carrying the meat in the skins signaled her to follow.

She looked down at her blood soaked skin and realized, for the second time, she was completely naked.

"I don't suppose you have any clothes I can borrow?"

"In the car, don't know how I got them but looks like they'll fit." He led her to a small cabin, the SUV parked in front of it, the blanket she'd been wrapped in still laying on the ground.

"There's a pump." He pointed to the side of the cabin as he disappeared around the back. She pumped water and washed off. She didn't hear him but then she turned he was standing there with a pile of clothes. She took them and started to get dressed. As she was adjusting her bra strap she noticed something that felt strange. Puckered flesh at the joint between her neck and shoulder. She thought she heard a moan near the car, but it could have been the wind. She pulled the shirt over her head and tucked it into the jeans. She realized that these were the clothes that she'd laid out on her bed before her shower.

"What did you mean, you don't know where you got them?"

"I found them on the floor board of the car." He said, this time from behind the cabin. He walked into view, clean clothes, his hair wet and loose hanging around his shoulders.

"They're mine."

"Well then they fit."

"So, why were you in my shower anyway?" She asked.

"I just got back from my trip, I smelled blood, I thought a student was being stupid, and needed a scare so I was going to either stop a suicide, or a fight. I found you lying in a pool of blood." He picked up the blanket and used it to wipe out the back seat of the car.

"And you just bit me?"

"No, I didn't just bite you, YOU bit me remember. I hazed out, I'm not sure what happened. The animal doesn't take control like that very often, not with me. I woke up with blood in my mouth and driving here, you were in the back seat covered with a blanket, and I knew you needed to feed."

"Feed?"

"Feed. Eat. Hunt. Let the animal loose to take care of what your body needed to keep you from stalking and killing people." He snarled and yanked open the passenger door of the car. "Now get in, its three a.m. and if we don't get back you'll be missed."

"Three...I got in the shower at about six p.m."

"And I got to the dorm around seven." He glared at her. "Do the math."

"Thanks I know we've been out here about seven hours, I swear, you are a bigger idiot out of the classroom."

He growled again. "You still have a mid term to pass."

"Go to hell." She muttered as she climbed into the car. She didn't have a choice, she had no idea where they were, and knew he was the only way back to the campus.

"You wish." He muttered back as he climbed in and started the car.

"So...ummm...is understanding math a part of the mutation?" She finally asked. She was still freaked about being able to solve the problems in her book.

"Actually, I've wondered about that. Almost every feral I've ever met is either mathematically or mechanically inclined, both right brain skills."

"What does right brain have to do with anything?"

"The mutation happens in the left side of the brain, well most of it. The senses, the instincts, the primitive part of the brain is mostly housed in the left side, along with logical and mathematical feeling and mechanical ability." He was in lecture mode, which meant he'd explain for a while. Her dad did the same thing. All she had to do was ask strategic questions and she'd keep him concentrating on the lecture until they were safe at the school.

"So, somehow, I was able to understand the math problems because my mutation kicked in?"

"I've often wondered if it was a part of the mutation, from the evidence of your rapid development and apparent comprehension of applied mathematics, which I'll test on Wednesday, it looks like it is. I wish I could test it further, but my hands are tied at the moment."

"Tied?"

"None of your business."

She shrugged. She could see lights in the distance, they seemed to be heading back to civilization.

"You need to eat, and more than once a week. I know the cafeteria shit turns your stomach, hell it turns mine too, but you have to find a way to get food into your body. As you are developing, even minor injuries will be a drain on your healing factor and require a higher food intake, and somehow you're going to have to get it as fresh as you can. I'd recommend eating out off campus twice or three times a week, or finding a way to cook your own. If you get desperate I can bring you back out here but I don't want to do that very often."

"Thanks." She sat back and contemplated everything he'd said that night until he pulled into his parking space under a burned out security light.

"It should be dark enough to sneak back into your room, stick to the shadows, I'll be right behind you." She moved from shadow to shadow until she was against the wall of her dorm. "Claws into the mortar between the bricks, yours is the open window." She climbed the wall, amazed at how quickly she moved. She climbed over the window sill and stepped down off her desk. The room was quiet, he must have flipped the TV off before they left.

"Where's your roommate?"

"Her boyfriend's place."

"That helps. We need to finish cleaning the bathroom." He moved quickly, using the towels and putting them in a plastic bag.

"I'll drop these in the trash near my place, they're used to bloody towels from there."

"Why are you helping me." She finally asked the one question that had been bothering her all evening.

"I screwed up with my brother, he learned things he never should have learned. You are the first feral I've actually taken an interest in for close to a century. You're female, you have a mutation that is almost identical to mine. Which makes you mine to protect. Deal with it, and get some rest, you're body's still healing." He said as he dropped the bag of towels out the window and leapt to the ground. She looked out the window and watched him dash from shadow to shadow across the campus until he was out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely. Again typed on the Blackberry so forgive any typos

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He groaned and hit the punching bag again. He wished she'd finish her shower or whatever had her touching the back of her neck. He was exercising all his self restraint not to return the favor and drive her insane. He'd been hard off and on all day, as something brushed against her neck, and he knew he was going to either have to put his foot down about her wardrobe or her hair...but he like her long hair, it gave him something to grab. His dreams had been full of erotic images of her body in different positions, as he satisfied himself as he'd only been able to do a few times in his life. He took another swing at the bag.

This time she brought him to his knees and he moaned, grateful there was no one in the apartment to hear him sound so frail. He took what he wanted, when he wanted, he'd never been so frustrated in his life. He could feel something kneading her shoulder right in his groin. It felt like one of the best hand jobs he'd ever had, except is stopped before he could finish. Why the hell was she gripping the back of her neck so tightly at five o'clock in the afternoon. He knew she had no idea what it was doing to him, and when he got the chance he was going to make her pay for the humiliation and frustration.

Xxxxxxxxx

She glared at the overdone pot roast on her plate. The vegetables were limp and she knew he'd cooked it in the cock pot all night.

"Katherine you should eat." Her dad was sitting at the other end of the table.

"I'm really not hungry." She could feel her stomach rumbling against the lie, pot roast used to be one of her favorite meals, but she'd give anything right now to have a nice thick rare steak. She'd managed some underdone bacon and scrambled eggs at the cafeteria this morning, but she was still hungry.

"Your roommate hasn't talked you into one of those dangerous diets, has she." She could feel his glare down the table. "No that you couldn't stand to lose a few pounds, but you've always had a healthy appetite for a girl."

She cringed and ran her hand up to the back of her neck. She didn't know why touching the scar made her feel safe at her weekly torture session. She also couldn't explain why it made her think of Professor Creed. It wasn't like her dreams had been about what she considered normal sex. No lovemaking, just pure lust and raw energy.

"Is there something wrong with your neck?" Shit, he'd noticed, she blushed.

"I've been studying all week for mid terms, it's just a crick." She picked up her fork and pushed some vegetables around.

"Of course, I forget, you take after your mother, she always had to study. It was a good thing I met her, she never would have finished college anyway. I expect better from you, just because you're not a man doesn't mean you can't succeed if you apply yourself." She could feel the muscles between her shoulders winding so tight she felt like they'd snap.

"I suppose you had to study for that animal's class." He never referred to Professor Creed by name, not at home. She felt a surge of anger like she'd never felt before. He wasn't an animal. He was like her, and she sure as HELL wasn't an animal.

"Yes." She hoped he didn't hear the anger in her voice and would drop it.

"I told you not to take that class. You could have taken Johnson's class instead, he wouldn't have been hard on you. That animal hates me and I wouldn't put it past him to be harder on you because of it. If he gives you any problems I'll deal with him. I've been looking for a way to get rid of him for years."

"It's fine dad, really." She pushed the food around on her plate and took a few half hearted bites.

"You should have taken Johnson's class. He's an up and coming physicist and you could do worse than his personal attention." Yeah right, she thought, and his roaming hands. He'd tried to get her to sleep with him for a C last semester. The only thing that stopped him was she'd threatened to turn him into the Board of Regents for sexual harassment.

"Spring break is next week. I am planning my usual department barbeque. I already have the caterer lined up, but I expect you to be here, and get rid of this mutant nonsense I've been hearing rumors about. No child of mine is going to be a mutant." He slammed his fork down on the table in emphasis. " I will expect you here on Monday to start cleaning. There will be no mistakes like last year." She'd missed the tiny window in the master bathroom, no one had seen it but he wasn't going to let her live it down. "Johnson will be here, and I expect you to act like a lady with him." She hid the snort of disgust by pretending to choke on a piece of food. He glared at her, and she took a quick drink of water. He glared even harder at the claws on the ends of her fingers.

"I'll be here, Dad, but I can't exactly hide..." She started.

"You WILL hide this oddity, and you will play hostess again this year. Why your mother had to get sick and die on me I will never understand. You may be useless to follow in my footsteps, being just a girl, I can't expect any less I suppose; but you will follow in hers, am I understood."

"Yes, Dad." She was starting to hate that word, and she gripped her neck in a vice grip, her claw tips almost piercing the skin.

"If you are finished I expect the dishes clean before you leave, I will be in my study, stop by before you leave, I have your allowance check for the week." She just nodded as he flung his napkin on the table and stormed off. Twenty-two years old and she still had to get an allowance check from her dad. She wiped the tear from her eye and picked up her plate and glass to take to the kitchen.

Xxxxxxxxxx

This time he dropped onto his hands and knees. He groaned and grabbed his crotch. He was going to kill her, what was she doing getting a damned Swedish Massage by a body builder named Hanse. It felt like his groin was gripped in a vice. The frustration he could handle, fight it off. A casual touch could be ignored, but this was pain like ha hadn't felt in years, hell as long as he could remember. It let up suddenly and he snarled as he caught a glimpse of himself in his workout room mirror, curled on the floor like some frail who'd been kicked in the groin.

He pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his sweat shirt. He was going for a jog and if he happened to run into a student of his and happened to rip her to bloody shreds, well that was the price the university paid to have Sabretooth as a math professor.

He saw her walking out of Dean Gracefield's house and she looked like she was in worse shape than he was. Her face, especially her lips, were pale, her hair damp and her shoulders were slumped in defeat. He ducked into an alley, out of sight of the house, and waited. He wanted to know what was wrong.

He smelled the tears and let out a small growl. If there was one thing he hated on earth it was a crying frail. He heard her stop, then walk straight to where he was hiding. He reared up to his full height, ready to give her hell for the torture she'd put him through when he heard her steps pick up and she ran around the corner and slammed right into his chest.

Her arms wrapped around his waist and before he realized what happened he had her wrapped in his arms, patting her back, trying to make sense of what she was mumbling through her sobs.

"...not useless, I can't fucking help that I was born a dammed girl. What did he mean I could use to lose a few pounds? I'm a God damned adult able to drink and smoke and vote and I still have to wait on him to give me an allowance." Her hands were balled into the back of his shirt, her face pressed against his chest and the strangest sound was coming from his throat.

He remembered that sound, barely. He used to lull Jimmy to sleep with it when he was sick as a kid. He was fucking purring. That did it.

"What the hell are you blubbering on about?" He grabbed her upper arms and shook her until she looked up at him.

"I hate him." She hissed, spitting like a pissed off kitten.

"Who?"

"My dad."

He shook her again for good measure.

"He said those things to you?"

"Yes, it was a normal Sunday dinner." She wiped her eyes on her sleeves.

"You're not going back there." He growled.

"I have to, I have to get the spring cleaning done and be hostess for his department barbeque next week."

"Like hell, you're going with me next week."

"I can't..." She started.

"Like hell you can't. After your midterm you better be packed. I'm taking you someplace that can explain some of the shit even I don't know about your mutation."

"But..."

"No buts, if you're not packed after the test you're going in what you're wearing and can buy a toothbrush when we get there." He turned around and stormed off. He threw back over his shoulder. "You don't belong to him anymore, get that through your head...and if you lose any weight I'll tie you down and force feed you, I like meat on my frails."

XxxxxXxxxxx

She just stared at his retreating back. She shook her head and walked back to her usual route to the dorms. She was halfway home when she realized she was smiling. 


	5. Chapter 5

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely. Again typed on the Blackberry so forgive any typos

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She was going to kill him, she didn't care how hard it would be she was going to rip him limb from limb. First it was the damned purring outside her window last night until she fell asleep. Then it was whatever he'd done to her in the shower, she'd nearly gone to her knees a few times. She wasn't innocent by any means but she was still blushing over the arousal she'd felt as she walked into class and took her usual seat in the back of the class. Now he was doing it again, in the middle of his lecture, and not even missing a beat while she fought the urge to squirm in her seat, and hoped to hell no one noticed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Her face was flushed, she could feel it, and she kept shooting daggers at him with her eyes. He still wasn't sure why he'd climbed the wall to he window last night and lulled her to sleep, except she was his, and she needed the damned sleep. Today was pure payback for yesterday, and as long as she didn't catch on to what he was doing, or how, he'd keep it up. She smelled so sweet, aroused to a fever pitch but frustrated to the point of murder. He knew if they were alone he would be in serious danger right now.

"Then y over x minus eleven over the constant N." He was facing the whiteboard and flicked his thumb over the mark on his throat. He had to keep from chuckling at he low hiss that came from the back of the room.

"Any questions?"

He turned to the class. All he heard was shuffling papers and books and very low curses to his mother and all his ancestors from the back of the room.

"Good, test on Wednesday, and remember the mid term is thirty percent of your total grade." He gritted his teeth through the shuffling of desks and feet and voices suddenly too loud, just like the end of every class. It was the only thing he really hated about the teaching thing, the sudden assault on his ears at the end of every class.

She waited until everyone else left before walking to the front of the room.

"I don't know what the hell you are doing, but quit." She was still flushed.

"I don't take orders from frails, and its just payback for yesterday.". He snarled at her, keeping his voice low.

"I didn't do anything to you yesterday." She hissed.

"Just make sure you're packed, and eat something, damn it." He growled, ignoring her statement. She snorted and stormed from the room. He waited until she was almost out of earshot to chuckle. He heard her frustrated snort and hoped the gift he'd left on her bed after her room mate left this morning made up for it.

He picked up his notes and papers and walked out. The halls were quiet, most students and faculty were on their lunch break. His TA wasn't at her desk as he walked into the faculty office area, and he hoped she was finishing the copies of the tests. He had three classes this semester and two of them were taking their mid terms tomorrow. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he caught the scent of the person waiting for him in his office. He opened his office door and walked casually to his desk. The man sitting in the chair in front of his desk grinned at him, but it didn't go to his one eye. The missing one was covered by a black eye patch with four parallel scars running down that side of his face.

"What do you want, Fury?". Victor said as he sat down.

"Just to talk. Who's the girl?"

"What girl?" Victor said, leaning back in his chair.

"This girl." Nick threw a stack of pictures on his desk, Victor picked them up. They were taken at his game preserve. He glared at Nick.

"Did you really think we weren't watching that too." Nick gathered up the photos. "So, who's the girl? She's got a nice ass."

"You want me to rip out the other eye for you, Fury?" Victor growled, hating himself for letting Fury bait him so easily.

"I just thought that a young woman with her obvious...assets" Fury turned the photo to get a better view of her 'assets' "could be useful to SHEILD. - could use a personal ass...istant."

"Victor clenched his fists under the desk. He had to think about how to play this. On one hand he wanted to rip Fury's other eye out, and feed it to him this time. On the other hand he had to protect Kathy. On the other hand, Fury was expecting either rage or indifference to let him know if she was important to Victor or not. On the other hand if he didn't react, and something happened to her he would rip out Fury's other eye and feed it to him this time.

"Keep. Your. Fucking. Hands. Off. My. MATE!" He roared the last word, shocking himself more than Fury.

"Mate. Well that makes things interesting." Fury stood up. "Nice to know. By the way this is the release paperwork on your assets, the statute of limitations is up, we can't hold them any more. Have a nice day, Creed." He gave Victor a two fingered salute.

Victor was fuming. "And don't think this gets you out of your assignments this summer, I expect the honeymoon to be over by then." Fury said as he walked down the deserted hall.

He looked down at the paper Fury placed on his desk, everything was released, free and clear. He grinned. No more commercial air for him. He picked up the phone and called his pilot. They had a flight plan to register.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

She dropped on the bed with a groan. She really needed something to eat but the check from her dad was less than usual, probably to punish her for talking back to him at dinner, or maybe for being a mutant, or a girl, or maybe for just breathing. Her nose had to be fooling her she smelled steak, rare. She moved her bag and heard the rustle of styrofoam under the blanket. She pulled it back to reveal a white to go container. On the top were the words "Eat or I'll force feed you."

She actually grinned, and opened the box, inside he'd placed two nice rare steaks. She forgot all the bad things she was planning to do to him, her stomach wasn't going to let her now.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely. Again typed on the Blackberry so forgive any typos

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you going to class today?" Val asked.

"No, gonna study for that damned calc test. Had all my other mid terms last week, we're just starting the new stuff and Steph's taking notes for me."

"Okay, glad you're feeling better, you were a real bitch while you were...sick." Val flopped on her bed. 'I kinda like the new nails though, wicked." Kathy grinned at her, Val was a friend and she couldn't blame her for being a little freaked out. "So you finally getting away for spring break?" Val nodded at the small bag she was packing?

"No, going to dad's for the week, I only have a few things I can wear right now so I'm taking them with me."

"Your dad's an ass, you know that right, hell I have more 'disposable' money than you do, and I'm broke. You need to tell him you need new clothes."

"I can't, at least not right now, he's still pissed about the mutation thing. I guess I'm lucky he's still talking to me."

"Only because he doesn't want to lose the slave labor."

Kathy changed the subject. "So what are your break plans?"

"Frank's taking me to meet his parents. We're leaving tonight."

"Wow, that serious?"

"Maybe."

"I'm happy for you." Kathy gave her a hug. "Its about time things started going right."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

He waited until the roommate left with a suitcase before climbing in the window.

"What the..."

"Brought you lunch."

"If you get caught doing this you'll loose your job and I'll get kicked out of school." She didn't refuse the bag he handed her. At least he knew she was eating one good meal a day, not enough to fully charge her healing factor, but enough to keep her from seeing humans as a food source.

"Just remember, test tomorrow, don't pass, you're out of school anyway." He wanted to chuckle at the evil look she gave him.

He wasn't going to do it, hell he was going to make sure she passed, but he'd rather she did it on her own. She needed to have the confidence that would give her.

"You packed?"

"Not yet."

"Leave it on the bed when you go to class, and leave the rest to me. Meet me at the alley, I'll pick you up."

"What if I don't want to go?" She glared at him. A few days away from her father and her backbone was starting to grow back. He had to teach her who was boss, but he didn't want to break her spirit.

"Then I'll just find you, and drag you kicking and screaming to the car."

"No you won't, you'd lose your job." Right now what she didn't know was a big advantage for him. He glanced at the half packed bag and did a quick mental rearrangement of his plans. Replacing her threadbare wardrobe was going to have to come first.

"Then be there." He growled and climbed out the window. He had to get to his last class and get that mid term out of the way. The last class had actually cheered when he told them there was no class on Thursday.

His TA was waiting when he got back. "You have a student that needs advisement for the summer session, and your class starts in ten minutes."

"Who's the student?" He rushed into his office to grab the test papers and his research notes to work on during the test.

"Raven Darkholm." He glared at the TA. Damn Myst, what the hell did she want!

"Get them started on the test I'll be there as soon as I am done advising." He handed her the test papers.

"But..."

"I have to take this. You can handle observing the test, now go." He snapped.

He heard her tell someone they could 'go in' and he steeled his back for the battle ahead.

"I never thought you would settle down to this, Sabretooth." She said as she glided into the room. She hadn't changed a bit in fifteen years, not that he could tell, she was wearing a human face. He'd know her scent anywhere, if only in self defense.

He sat behind the desk, and glared. "What do you want?"

"I can't visit an old friend?" She sat in the chair in front of his desk, and crossed her legs, the short skirt riding up exposing her long legs.

"Only if your master tells you too, tell me how's the old Jew doing?" He snarled the words, ignoring her attempt to get his 'attention'.

"He's well, as well as can be expected at his age." She smiled at him and leaned forward, exposing her cleavage in the low-cut dress.

"What does he want?" He wasn't buying, she didn't have anything he hadn't sampled and was interested in sampling again.

"You to come home." She said it with a sultry lilt to her voice, and licked her lips.

"Sorry, I like my life." He leaned back in his chair, propping one knee against the edge of the desk, he wanted the leverage if he needed to move quickly.

"Living like a slave? Obeying homo sapiens?" She sneered at him.

"Why now, Raven." He chuckled at her angry hiss. "Did your informants tell you SHIELD released my assets? Or did Toad?"

"Toad is a loyal brother, unlike others."

"Really, is that why he took my job offer last night. He sounded desperate and lonely to me." He gave her his cold smile, the one most people were smart enough to be afraid of. "He certainly jumped at the money I offered him for his old job back."

"The war is..." She started.

"Your rhetoric won't work on me, I only took the job; and that is all it was, a job; to begin with to ease the blood lust, now I have another outlet. Besides, things are fairly mutant neutral right now, there are fringe groups, like Humanity First, but there's still Neo Nazis, Skinheads and Black Panthers. Mutants are mainstream, and there is no reason to stir up trouble. At least not in the States." She looked at him in shock. "I can't sit in this chair and do what I do without a mind and an education, Mystique. I've never been the dumb animal you and Magneto always thought I was. Now get out of my office."

She stood gracefully, he had to give her that. At over a century, she still moved with a grace few human females could duplicate for even a decade.

"You will come home, this 'peace' will not last forever, they will try to control us."

"Get out, I've got to go give an algebra exam."

XXxxxxxxxxxx

Kathy watched the woman leave his office. She didn't know who she was, but if she ever showed her face around here again, Kathy was going to claw it off. She didn't know where the surge of jealousy came from, hell she didn't even like him most of the time, but the thought of that woman touching him just sent her into a blind rage. He belonged to Kathy, weather he liked it or not. She knocked on the door before he could leave.

"I needed help on one of the problems?" She said.

"I've got to go check on the test, you can wait, I'll be right back." He snapped at her. She sat down in the chair in front of his desk. The room was not what she'd ever expected a math professor's office to be like, the huge mirror, the treadmill in the corner, the shelves filled with philosophy books next to the math greats.

She could smell something that smelled like a snake or a lizard in the room. She kept looking for an aquarium or something.

"Damn..."he said as he came in the door. "Let me get a window open. She always smells lizardy when she's pissed."

"Who?"

"An old...friend."

She didn't know why she felt a sudden pain in her gut at the way he said it.

"I was working this problem in the book, and I keep getting an answer that's different than the one in the book. The book has to be wrong. Everything works right on all the other problems, but this one is..." She was showing him the book.

"Wrong. Damn, you're the first student to actually figure out the book is wrong. I deliberately chose this version of the text for the errors in it, to see if anyone would figure it out." She felt a surge of warmth as she realized he was really smiling at her, one that actually reached his eyes.

"So I did it right?"

"Yes."

"I am not worried about this test any more." She picked up her book and notes and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She turned to walk to the door and he moved quickly, leaping over the desk, and closing the door. He stalked across the floor and she backed up until she was against the desk.

"Profess..." She started.

"Victor...and get used to saying it." He growled low, not threatening, but something that stirred things inside her.

"You're putting your job at risk, and my degree." She almost whimpered as his hands landed on the desk on either side of her hips.

"No, I'm not." He grinned at her. She felt his breath on her neck and nearly melted to the floor, the only thing holding her up was the desk behind her and his body looming over her. She looked up at him, and caught a strange look in his eyes right before he kissed her.

It was tentative, like he didn't know how, and she found her hand on his cheek, brushing the short sideburns as she parted her lips and let herself taste his. He growled low again and she felt one hand move from the desk to her back, pressing her against him. She felt his tongue brush hers, but pull back. She licked his lips, and as he parted them she tasted his mouth, stroking his tongue with hers. She felt the growl this time, rather than heard it and the hand on her back seemed to be trembling.

He pulled back, and she caught the strange look again before he stepped back.

"You'd better get back to your dorm. And try to eat something and get some sleep. We're leaving right after the test." He growled the last and it was his normal threatening growl. She smiled and picked up the book and papers that had fallen to the floor.

"I'll be there." she said softly.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely. Again typed on the Blackberry so forgive any typos

Jinx - you know me so well...yes SHOPPING SPREE next chapter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He watched her through the test. She took her time working the problems, and every once in a while, he'd run his hand over his neck, adjust his tie, or otherwise find a reason to brush the scar on his neck. He didn't know how they worked, these scars, just that they did. He wanted her distracted, the last thing he needed was someone questioning how a failing student managed to ace his mid term exam. He did not need any scrutiny from the Board, and especially not from her father. He had another seven weeks after the break before she was no longer his student, although after what happened in his office yesterday, he wasn't sure he was going to wait that long.

There was one nagging doubt in his mind, and no one he'd contacted had any idea about the answer. He only knew one place where they could get a discreet DNA analysis to guarantee they were not related some how. Her mutation was too damned much like his. As much as he hated the idea, he was going to have to face James, even if Xavier didn't think it was a good idea.

She put her pencil down and looked back over the test. She looked up and caught his eye and just looked back down. She looked ready to kill. She stood slowly and walked to the front and put her paper on the desk in front of him.

"Have a nice break Ms. Gracefield." He said, as he had to every student that brought the their paper up. She muttered "Yeah, right." and turned back to her desk. He had to catch himself and not stare as she bent over to pick up her back-pack. Fury was right, she really did have a nice ass.

He fumed through the rest of the test period, wondering if she would really be there or if he was going to have to hunt her down.

Xxxxxxxxx

She waited on the alley, leaning over, her hands resting on her knees as she tried to stay out of sight of passing cars. She'd gone all the way to her dad's house, waving at neighbors out in their yards. She'd unlocked the front door, gone in, and slipped out the back. She used what Prof...Victor had taught her about sticking to shadows and staying out of sight to slip into the alley. She just hoped she hadn't missed him.

She looked down at her watch. The class was over thirty minutes ago, where was he?

She glanced back to the other alley entrance to see if he'd gone that way. There was no sign of him. She started cursing under her breath. Did she have the right alley? Had something happened? Was he just pulling her leg to get one over on her dad?

As she thought the last, the black SUV pulled up in front of the alley and the passenger door opened.

"Hurry up." He growled.

She jumped into the car and quickly shut the door.

He pulled slowly away, and she sank low in the seat, even with the tinted windows, to avoid being recognized.

Once they were out of the neighborhood and on main streets, she sat up.

"Give me your cell phone." He growled as they stopped at a stop light. She glared at him but handed it over.

He started to roll down the window.

"You are not destroying my phone."

"You're right I'm not." He growled. He popped the back cover off, took out the battery and used his claw on one small area under the plastic inner cover. He put the battery back in and popped the back into place, all before the light turned green.

"What did you do?"

"Destroyed the GPS chip, now your father will have a harder time tracking us."

"Harder? You mean you want him to track us?"

"Yep, just not within the first forty-eight hours."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"New York."

"That's a three day drive..." She started.

"We're not driving." He said as he pulled into the small private air field near the air port.

He pulled up to a small hanger that still had yellow police tape hanging from the doors and a small jet sitting out front. There was a guy standing next to the open passenger ramp wearing a leather jacket, jeans and the greenest hair she'd seen in a long time.

"Stay here till I tell you." He said before getting out of the car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

He closed the door, and looked back. He still wasn't sure this was the best idea, but he couldn't see any other real choice.

"Hey, 'Tooth. Man was I glad to hear from you last night."

"Did you make the arrangement I asked, Toad?" He said as he walked up.

"Yeah. Limo is waiting in Newark and the bank knows you're comin'." Toad said. "Where are we goin after New York?"

"We're not."

"You're just goin' to the bank?"

"No."

"So what do you want me ta do, mate?"

"Wait in Newark."

"Just wait?"

"Just wait."

"So what's the plan? You goin' back with the big magnet?"

"No."

"Well I'm glad you called. Things there are getting bad."

"What do you mean, bad?" Victor asked.

"Money's tight. No one's been paid in months. Those that have stuck with him, that is. Its really just him and Mystique."

"She was here yesterday, I think she found out my assets had been released."

"Probably."

"Well, I'm not going back. I'm just taking a short trip for spring break."

"Spring Break? Man we are goin the wrong direction, all the babes will be in Miami." Toad laughed.

"Newark."

"Newark for spring break, Man, you've really forgotten how ta have fun, Mate."

Victor looked back at the car and nodded. He watched the door open, and then close and she stepped around the front of the car.

"Then again maybe not, I'd lick that all over." Toad said with a low whistle.

"Not if you wanted to keep your tongue." Victor said with a low growl.

"Awww...c'mon, learn ta share."

"Keep. Away." He growled again as she walked over.

"Get on the plane, Gracefield." He snapped. "And you get us in the air, and keep away from the passenger."

"Right...sheish, you'd think she was your wife or somethin'." Toad muttered as he climbed into the plane and closed the door.

Victor just glared at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She caught the end of the conversation and glared at him as she took her seat and fastened her seat belt.

"So why are we going to New York, and why don't you want my dad to know for at least two days?" He glared at her and then at the pilot cabin, then shrugged.

"I have to pick up something from a bank in New York, and then I'm taking you someplace where you can learn about your mutation, and I can learn more about these damned scars so we can understand what is going on." She heard an intake of breath and a low curse from the pilot cabin.

"Your not taking her THERE!" The pilot snapped.

"Shut up, Toad."

"Where?" She asked, glaring at Victor.

"The X-Men." he said simply.

"Why are we going there? And why do you want two days before my dad finds us?"

"I need them to run a test, and they know more about the mutations than I do, they can give you more information." He glared and growled even more.

"You don't like the X-Men do you?" She had a feeling that he was going to growl again, and she was right.

"No...lets just say we're not on speaking terms. I've tried to kill a few of them more than once."

"So why the two days?" She wasn't going to let it go.

"Because that's how long it will take to find out if I have the right to kick your father's ass or not."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll explain when I get the test results." They'd taxied and were airborne and he turned to look out the window, ignoring her. She could feel the muscles in her neck getting tense again and reached up to rub the tension out. He moved so fast she literally didn't see him move. His hand was gripping her wrist, keeping her fingers just short of the scar on her neck. "I can't handle that right now, so keep your fucking hands OFF that scar, am I clear?"

"So THAT'S how you did it." She snapped back, realizing exactly how he'd kept her at varying states of arousal all day...then she blushed. She remembered how she tended to knead her shoulders when she was tense and could imagine how that felt to him. "Okay, fair enough...just keep your hands away from your neck too, until we find out what the hell is going on."

He just nodded, and slowly returned to his seat.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely. Again typed on the Blackberry so forgive any typos

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He wasn't completely happy with his plan. It involved leaving her with people that usually wanted to kill him. The idea of leaving her anywhere near Jimmy didn't sit well with him either. It was the only way he could think of to get her away from her father, away from SHEILD, and away from Mystique. There were too many threats to him, and through him to her.

He'd stayed away from Jimmy for twenty-five years, at first because he was angry at Jimmy's words, then flat because he couldn't find him. After Liberty he tried to contact Jimmy at the school but Xavier kept him away on this errand or that, and finally just told Victor it would be best to let James recover himself without Victor's help. Ten years later, Xavier wasn't going to have a say.

He glanced across the cabin of the plane. She was curled up in her seat, asleep. She was having interesting dreams, from the scent, and a part of him gloated that they were about him. He still wasn't sure about how he felt about the situation. She had guts, and was earning his grudging respect for how she was handling the mutation, something not easy for anyone, but usually harder to adapt to the older the person was who developed it. No matter how the test turned out, she was his to protect. If she was a cub or a cub of a cub, he'd be her mentor, if not...he stopped himself there. They were about to land, and he didn't have time to indulge in erotic fantasies.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

She woke up to him shaking her arm.

"Wake up."

She stretched and looked out the window at the New York City skyline below.

She watched their descent in silence, only her hungry stomach making any noise in the cabin.

"We'll grab something on the way into the city." He said as he walked to the back of the cabin and unstrapped a door. He pulled her small bag out, along with a battered leather pack he slung over his shoulder. He handed her pack to her as the wheels hit the runway. He stumbled a bit back to his seat. They pulled up to a small hangar, and Victor opened the cabin door as soon as they rolled to a stop. She climbed out behind him and saw the limo waiting.

"A limo?"

"Shut up and get in." He growled.

She climbed into the car and he climbed in after her. He glanced at the driver.

"There's been a change of plans. After the bank, take us to Saks." He said. The driver just nodded.

"Saks?"

"Yeah, there is no way in hell you are going to embarrass me with what you packed." He snarled. She shrank into the expensive leather seats. Embarrass him? He was wearing a button down shirt with a growing ink stain that escaped his pocket protector and jeans, and she was going to embarrass HIM.

She glared out the window, not even looking at him when he cleared his throat to get her attention. He grabbed her arm and yanked her around to look at him.

"I'm getting tired of this. If you're pissed at me about something get in my fucking face about it, I can't stand sulking.". He growled at her.

"Fine, I'm gonna embarrass you? How, you look like the geeky professor, I just look like a normal kid." She stopped. When the hell did he change clothes. He was in an expensive grey wool suit with a silk tie and shirt in contrasting greys. "How did...?"

"Better you not know, now I've got to go into the bank. Are you going to be here when I get back, or do I have to cuff you to the car?" He was grinning as he asked it. She stuck her tongue out at him, but nodded.

Xxxxxxx

He opened the box. Inside were several old leather bound books, a couple small bags that gleamed with gold at the partially open mouths, souvenirs of their trip to the black hills looking for gold, and several small boxes. He grabbed the books, then pulled out one of the boxes. Inside was a heavily tarnished thin band ring. He slipped it into his pocket. It was the only thing he had from his mother, and if she did turn out to be what his instincts said she was, he wanted to mark her where the world would see she was his.

He opened the second box and pulled ten bundles of one hundred dollar bills. He knew that would cover expenses for a week and a half. He put them in the metal case the bank provided, along with the books. He hoped their third stop had his order ready, and the account set up. That was his way in the door, with Jimmy. Even without his memories, his woman was the way to get his brother's attention, and the Rogue would be no exception.

He closed the case and shook hands with the bank manager. He walked out to the limo, she was sitting right where he left her.

He nodded to the driver and leaned back.

"So what's in the box?"

"Some papers we're gonna need to make sure our stay is as uneventful as possible." He set it on the floor of the limo.

"Stay?" He was really starting to like that little puzzled look with the crinkled nose and puckered forehead. "Uneventful?"

"Just when we get there let me do the...talking."

"Talking?" This time it was a glare as if she knew that growling, shouting, snarling and bloodshed was far more likely.

"Just do what I say and you should be fine." He snapped. He hated being questioned all the time.

The limo pulled up outside the store. "Let's go." He made a pushing motion with his hands.

They walked in the front doors and she seemed to shrink. He didn't give her the chance to run. He grabbed her elbow and walked straight to the elevators. He punched the floor for women's wear and when the doors opened, he dragged her out and grabbed the first sales clerk with the other hand, dragging them both, with complete confidence to the changing rooms.

"I want her measured, and bring out the exclusive line. I will select everything my self. She will need everything from the skin out. Mildly conservative.". He instructed the woman. He dropped Kathy on a bench to wait.

Xxxxxxxxx

She glared at him. She could pick her own clothes. She kept glaring as an army of clerks came in, with measuring tapes and pin cushions. She was even more humiliated as they stripped her, right in front of him. She stood there in nothing but her nude cotton Wal-Mart special bra and white cotton panties.

He just glared back. "Burn all of it." He instructed the clerks when they asked what to do with her clothes.

One of the clerks pushed her behind a curtain and started to unfasten her bra.

"No!" She said sharply.

"Kathy, don't make me come in there. Its not like I haven't seen what you have before. Let her fit you for decent under things."

"My clothes are decent."

"They are threadbare and falling apart, where'd you get them a thrift store?"

She blushed. How the hell did he know that? She struggled, but in the end they got the new bra and panties on her and she did admit they felt good on her skin.

"I told you, silk feels good." He said from his seat in the viewing area. She hated it when he did that.

The dress they brought in felt good too, actually everything she tried on felt good. They finally uncovered the mirror and let her see how she looked. The soft grey dress flowed when she moved, the light belt, cinched in her waist and clung across her chest. The drape on the side moved with her. The three inch black sandals gave her a little height and made her legs look longer in the knee length skirt. The dark grey clutch held her phone and wallet with ID and what little cash she had. She almost didn't recognize herself. She stepped out of the curtain.

"Turn around." Was all he said.

She did. " It will do, that and all the rest on my account, and make sure they are in the limo with my suits." She looked at the mirror in the viewing area and realized the grey of the dress matched the grey of his tie. They looked like a high class couple ready to go to dinner. She pulled the pony tail holder from her hair and leaned over to shake her head, fluffing her hair a little bit. Without makeup or a hair brush that was the best she could do. He nodded his approval.

He took her arm in his and lead her through the store. She felt ten feet taller than she did when she walked in. He had a point, it felt good to wear something that wasn't from a thrift store. She'd always resented her dad, with his three piece Armani suits, and she'd had to buy most of her clothes at thrift stores most of her life. She thought back and realized this was the first new dress she'd had since the one she'd worn to her mother's funeral, when she was thirteen.

He handed her into the car and she slid across the leather seats. The driver was putting bags in the trunk and she didn't look back to count.

"Tell me you at least bought me one pair of jeans." She said. She'd tried on one pair, that were a blend of denim and silk that had felt like heaven, but she was afraid of the price tag.

"I bought five, and T-Shirts. You're a college student for God's sake, I don't expect you to look like a runway model." He growled.

She looked at him. "I don't want to know how much you spent. Isn't he through loading those bags yet?"

"Yeah, he's done, and we've got one more stop. As for how much I spent, don't worry about it." He glared out the window. She huddled back into the seat. He resented buying her things.

"I'll pay you back as soon as I can." She said softly.

"Damn it, you don't get it. I'm not pissed at YOU, I'm pissed at your idiot father that let you wear thrift store clothes and look like a charity case." He growled. "YOU look fantastic in that dress, hell almost too fantastic. Do me a favor, do not bend over like that again until after the tests I want to have run." He groaned the last and then ground out a word she honestly didn't think he knew. "Please."

"Why, was it that bad?"

"NO! Damn it was that good." He groaned again. She felt her lips curl into a little smile, maybe he did like her a little bit.

The car moved through traffic but just down the street, and she gasped at the name of the store.

"What the hell do you need at Tiffany?" She asked.

"A late wedding present." He muttered. "You coming?"

"In there?"

"Yes, in there."

She followed him into the door, her eyes wide. She'd never thought she'd ever be in this of all stores in the world.

He walked straight to a counter and asked for a 'Charlie.'

She walked around the store, keeping her hands at her sides, but she couldn't stop an exclamation of awe looking at what was labeled as the "Victoria" collection. She'd never in a million years afford anything like that but the clusters of diamonds in platinum shined in the lights of the store, drawing her eyes.

She wasn't paying any attention to him, just looking at the beautiful pieces on display, and wishing she had enough money to buy just one small thing.

"Are you through ogling." He said as he came up behind her.

"Yeah." She said wistfully.

The clerk walked up then to the counter she was looking at.

"Here is your order Mr. Creed. The account for Mrs. Marie Howlett is set up, and she can add any charms from our collection at any time for life, and it will be charged against your account. Is there anything else you'd like?"

"Yeah...Give me one of everything in here, ring size..." He seemed look at her hands on the counter but his eyes didn't seem to be focused on them. "eight."

"Everything?"

"Did I stutter?"

"No Mr. Creed. One of everything."

"That is a hell of a wedding present." Kathy said softly.

"Not really, its more of a promise. I tried to kill her once, I kinda need to make sure she understands I won't do it again, and a lifetime account at Tiffany is the fastest way I could think of."

"Wow, I guess. Can you afford it?"

He just glared at her and she sat back. He carried the bag from Tiffany into the limo and set it on the floorboard next to the silver metal case from the bank. He reached into the Tiffany bag and pulled out the large box of the "Victoria" collection. He opened it and pulled out a necklace, earrings and a bracelet and threw them in her lap.

"Put those on."

Her hands shook as she put the jewelry in place. She was wearing more money than she'd ever seen in her life.


	9. Chapter 9

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

XXXXXXXXXX

She was watching the landscape roll by when her stomach let out a loud growl. She blushed and glanced over at him. He looked at her, and actually looked sheepish.

"I forgot, you haven't eaten." He punched a button on the console in the door. "Is there a restaurant nearby?"

"Sir, there is a Sushi place at the next exit." The driver said.

"Perfect." He released the button, and looked at her. "Hope you like Sushi."

"Right now, even raw fish sounds good." He grinned at her.

The limo left the highway and took two turns and they were in front of an upscale shopping center with a restaurant. He opened the door and held out his hand to help her from the car. She climbed out, suddenly self conscious. Her fingers touched the flower pendant made of diamonds that hung from her neck and she blushed a little. The large bracelet of clusters of the same floral design flashed on her wrist, and the earrings rested cool against her earlobes. She glanced around the parking lot, but no one seemed to notice them.

He tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her to the door. The hostess asked them how many and he signaled two with his fingers. She smiled and led them to a secluded back table.

The waitress asked for their drink choices and he ordered a green tea for both of them, and then proceeded to order the meal. The waitress's eyes were huge, but she nodded at everything he said.

"What did you order?"

"Eh, just about everything on the menu. They didn't have blowfish but I expected that."

She just looked at him, and he shrugged. "I'm hungry too, and I want you to eat your fill."

"That's a LOT of food."

"And you're still recovering from having your mutation manifest. You're no where near full strength or recovery." He growled softly, the one that made her go all warm and tingly in her stomach.

She just nodded. The tea came first, in a beautiful, ornate teapot, and small cups. The waitress poured for them, and gave her a strange look. She blushed a little, not sure why the woman was so condescending to her.

Victor said something to the waitress in a language that Kathy didn't understand and she glared at him, but the waitress gave a little bow and responded. They conversed for a few minutes and the waitress bowed again, and seemed to back off on whatever it was that was giving her an attitude.

"What did you say to her?" She asked him after the waitress left.

"I told her she didn't need to serve the tea, you would do it."

"That's what her problem is?"

"She's traditional Japanese, a man doesn't serve his own tea." He explained as he sipped from his cup.

"Oh."

"It's nothing against you, she just doesn't understand American women and how they allow their men to do things that they shouldn't." He grinned at her. "She honestly doesn't think a man CAN pour his own tea without making a mess." He chuckled.

She smiled at that and relaxed a little. She glanced around the restaurant and realized several people kept glancing at them, some not as discreet stared openly.

"What is their problem?" She whispered.

"Look at us. We look like a wealthy couple out for dinner, they noticed the limo, our clothes, and are trying to figure out who we are, if we're famous. Relax." She blushed a little, and stroked the pendant again.

"You look great, kid. No one would know, a couple hours ago, you looked like something out of a rag bin." She hissed at him and glared and he grinned at her. "Better. I don't deal with fear well."

"How did you know I'm scared?"

"I can smell it, you can too if you concentrate." He said. He paused as the waitress walked up with a thin platter of sashimi and a large bowl of rice. There was a small round platter with condiments, wasabi, soy sauce, a type of hot mustard, and a red hot sweet sauce. She picked up her chopsticks, suddenly grateful her father had taught her to use them.

Victor said something else to the waitress and she nodded, and with a slight smile, walked off.

"What did you say this time?"

"Keep it coming." He used his own chopsticks to place some rice in the bowl in front of him and picked up a piece of fish and laid it on the rice, then used a little of the sweet sauce over the top, then picked up the whole thing with his sticks and popped it into his mouth. She grinned and followed his example.

The fish she picked was a darker color, and she started with the simple soy sauce. The rice was slightly sweet, and the fish had a strong oily flavor that made her stomach growl even louder. He grinned. "That was eel."

"Yum." was all she managed as she picked up another piece of fish, this more recognizable as salmon. She dripped a bit of the green wasabi over it, and braced herself for the burn, but somehow it tasted better than any she'd had before. It didn't burn her sinuses as badly and she tasted the slight sweetness of the radish instead of the overwhelming heat. She glanced at him and he grinned again.

"Yeah, Sushi is a different experience for us. We taste more, and the heat doesn't affect us as much." He let out a low chuckle. "I guess we're really feline at some level. I love fish."

She nodded, and glanced at his tea cup. It was almost empty so she reached over and poured him another one. The waitress walked by just then, and gave her a small smile. She smiled back, and went back to her food.

Three platters, two bowls of rice and two condiment trays later she actually felt full for the first time in days. It all had tasted terrific but the eel seemed to be something her body was craving so after the first tray he ordered more eel on the others. He took the ticket from the waitress, and reached into the front inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a long, thin leather wallet and dropped five one hundred dollar bills on the table. She gasped, not realizing the meal was that expensive.

The waitress gasped. He said something else to her and she bowed again. He pulled something out of the other side of the wallet and handed it to her.

"What was that." Kathy asked as they climbed back into the limo.

"Her younger sister is in California and she wanted to bring her to New York. I gave her my card. I don't mind helping people that are trying to make it on their own, especially if they are minor mutants like her."

XXXXXXXXXX

She was quiet the rest of the trip. He was going to have to work on teaching her to interpret her sense of smell, but right now she was so overwhelmed with everything else, he just wanted to get her someplace safe.

"What's got you worried?" She finally asked.

"I need to get you someplace safe, where I know that the people threatening me can't come after you." He said, after thinking about it a moment. She still didn't know who he was, she had an idea what he was, but not the whole picture.

"Threat?" She looked at him, and thank God it was confusion not fear in her scent. "Come after me?"

"I had some visitors before we left. Nick Fury from SHIELD." He decided at this point honesty was going to work best. "He had pictures of your hunting trip. I had no idea they were monitoring the hunting preserve or I'd have taken you to a national park or something. Then Mystique, you probably saw her leaving the office."

"Mystique, as in the terrorist Mystique?" She said, still puzzled.

"Yeah. She wanted me to come back to the Brotherhood, but I told her no. If she finds out about you, She'd try to hurt you to get to me." He said simply.

"You were in the Brotherhood?"

"My code name with them, and with SHIELD is Sabretooth." He said simply, expecting fear, but it didn't come.

"I figured you were someone, I mean you're taking me to the X-Men for God's sake, but I had no idea I'd be in danger because you were my teacher." She said.

"Teacher..." He wanted to punch something. She knew what the damned scars did, and she still thought he was just a teacher. "Yeah, I guess. It's a little more than that with the mutation, but I guess mentor might be a better word. I told you, you're mine to protect now, get used to it." He growled the last. He had no idea how this was going to play out, and staying conservative would keep it from going south if things turned out like his instincts were screaming...she was his mate, the dam of his cubs, his companion for life, she'd better get used to the idea quick, because he wasn't going to have a whole lot of patience if it turned out they weren't related.

He looked out the window at the closed gate of the school. It was now or never. He rolled down the window of the limo and pushed the intercom button.

"Xavier's School for the Gifted."


	10. Chapter 10

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

She sat in the leather chair in front of the huge desk. The man on the other side was older, and his eyes seemed kind, but stern and like they were trying to bore into her head.

"Victor, you know I don't think this is a good idea." He said.

"I really don't care. I frankly need Jimmy on his toes on this and waiting on you to unlock his memories is going to put her in danger." Victor nodded at her.

"I don't see how she could be in any more danger here than with you." The older man said.

"Charles, I'm going to explain this once, and I really need you to understand. I've got Mystique and SHIELD on my ass at the moment, I don't need 'Logan' thinking he can get revenge on me by picking on my...student." The pause made her glance at him.

"Student?" Charles looked at both of them again. "Is there more to this?"

"I need a DNA analysis before I can answer that." Victor said.

Charles nodded, and pushed a button on his desk. "Hank, can you come to my office, and bring the special needles we use when drawing Logan's blood. I am going to need two samples drawn."

"Thank you." Victor said simply.

Charles nodded, and opened his mouth to say something when the door burst open.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE!" Kathy recognized him from news coverage, it was "The Wolverine"

"He's asked for our help, Logan." Charles said calmly.

"Like HELL. We're not helping him, or any two bit slut he brings in here." Victor was out of his chair and had Logan against a wall, his hand around his throat.

"You can say what you want about me, but leave her out of it." Victor said, surprisingly calmly. "She's the one that needs help, and if you ever call my mate a slut again, I'll rip your fucking throat out, metal skeleton or not."

"MATE!" Kathy exclaimed. So that is what the hell was going on. Suddenly everything clicked into place. 'Your mate. Is that what this DNA test is about?"

Victor glared at her, and even Logan looked at her with a funny expression on his face.

"Fuck. Jimmy, now you've gone and screwed the pooch, I swear, I can't leave you alone for five minutes, much less twenty five years." Victor let him go and walked back to the chair, dropping into it and putting his elbows on his knees, resting his head in his hands.

"I can't go on like this, Charles. I need him." Victor looked up at the man behind the desk.

"He needs to recover on his own." Charles said.

"BULLSHIT! We've tried it your way. I need him, and I've waited twenty-five years, I'm not waiting anymore."

"What the hell is goin' on in here." A girl that Kathy also recognized as 'The Rogue' from news broadcasts walked in.

"Get out." Logan said to her, putting his body between her and Victor. Kathy could smell the protective anger coming off of him.

"No, she's a part of this too." Victor said. He reached into his pocket, where he'd shoved the square box that had the gold letters "Tiffany and Co." on the top. "This is for you, Rogue." He reached out, the box sitting on his outstretched palm.

"What is it?"

"A late wedding present" Victor said simply. "and a promise."

She pushed Logan out of the way and looked at the box, then snorted. "What's the promise."

"I'll never try to hurt you again."

"Prove it." Rogue's eyes were suspicious.

"Okay." He opened the box and handed her the piece of paper on top. "It is a lifetime account at Tiffany, I'll pay for whatever you buy, no questions asked." Her eyes grew wide. Then she looked at the bracelet in the box, it was links of twisted gold and platinum cords, with a single charm hanging from each link. The first was a tiny Statue of Liberty, the second a tiny set of dog tags, the third, a small needle and syringe. The forth a broken cube, the fifth a small set of entwined rings, the sixth a single baby bottle in pink gold, the third a double set of baby bottles in a blue tinted platinum. The charms stopped there. "You can put whatever you want on there from here."

"Thank you." She said simply and took the box, closing it and not looking at it any further. Kathy could feel the suspicion rolling off of her.

"Logan, I have something for you as well."

"I don't want anything from you." Logan spat at Victor.

"Logan, please listen to him." Charles said.

Victor picked up the silver case and opened it on his lap. He pulled a stack of books out and set them on the edge of the desk. Logan glared at him and then at the books. "Your journals." Victor said simply.

"I don't believe you."

"Victor, you can't force him..." Charles started. Kathy took things into her own hands. She picked up the first book on the stack and opened it. Victor glared at her, but she glared back.

"August 10th, Eighteen forty-eight, Victor left me in this cave while he went hunting for food. We've been running for two years since...since I killed our father. He doesn't blame me, he does everything he can to take care of me, I can't hunt like he can, I can't smell like he can yet, its getting stronger." She read off the page. "He's my brother, I have to find a way to help him as much as I can. He can't take care of me all the time."

She watched Logan's face as she read, the anger fading to confusion, and then back to anger again.

"I don't care. I don't want him here. I don't want him around Rogue and the kids."

"James, I don't plan on staying very long. I'll be back after this semester is over to pick up Kathy and move on, but I can't protect her by myself."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Logan snarled.

"It's your name. James Logan Howlett."

"Well that explains why you put the account in the name of Marie Howlett." Rogue said softly as she looked at the paper.

"NO! You are NOT my brother, we are not related. Those are not..." He yanked the book out of Kathy's hand, and looked at it, then dropped it like it was burning hot. "...can't be my handwriting." He finished softly.

"They are, you are, I am, and I need you James. I need you to protect my mate while I can't. I've promised I will never harm yours. Please." There was that word again, well two of them. Mate, and Please.

"You're ASKING for my help. That's rich." Logan snarled.

"No, Jimmy, I'm doing something I never do. I'm begging." She heard the harshness in Victor's voice.

"Victor, there is no need for that. She will be safe here. However, could you please explain why..." A large blue furred mutant walked in the door in a lab coat. "Ah, Hank. If you could draw blood from our guests here."

"Why the test. I've never been very...careful. I want to make sure we're not related before I go further with this." Victor ripped his shirt down, showing the scar on the front of his neck.

"Dear Lord." Charles said. The blue mutant named Hank stepped back. Suddenly Kathy recognized him too, She was going to have her blood drawn by the US Ambassador to the United Nations.

"My word...this is amazing." She hissed as Hank's blue fingers probed the scar on Victor's neck. Victor growled low at him as she gripped the arms of the chair. It felt...wrong, as if she were being violated.

"Hank." Charles said softly.

"My apologies. I've only seen a mate mark once before, it is an amazing phenomenon. I am assuming you are marked as well?" He pulled out a needle and vial to catch the blood. Victor yanked off his jacket and rolled up a sleeve of his ruined shirt. She hissed at the copper smell in the air as his blood filled the small vial. She wanted to claw Hank's eyes out for hurting him.

"Yes." She said, trying to concentrate on the conversation and control the rage building inside her. She pulled her dress back away from the back of her neck as Hank turned his attention, and needles to her.

"Amazing. Simply amazing." He did not touch her scar, but instead took her arm and wrapped the tourniquet around it. "I really don't think a test is necessary, however." he looked at Victor as he drew her blood easily.

"Why not?"

"From the information I've been able to gather from the other scientists studying mutation around the world, the mate mark is uncommon, very uncommon, and if the DNA is too close, the marks don't form. There was a case in the Ukraine, a pair of mutants who wanted to mate but couldn't. They were raised separately, fell in love, wanted to mate, however no matter how many times they bit, the mark faded immediately. They found out they were first cousins, after a DNA analysis. They were devastated." He dropped the two vials of blood in his pocket. "I will certainly run this as quickly as possible, however, I do only consider it a confirmation of what your bodies already know."

"I'll wait for the results." Victor snapped.

"And where the hell do I fit in all this." Kathy snapped at him.

"SAFE!" He roared at her. "Right now I need you safe. I don't need a distraction."

"And what about school, what about my father..." She shouted back.

"YOUR FATHER IS AN ABUSIVE ASS and you are never going to see him again." He roared back at her.

"YOU don't own me, Professor Creed." She shouted.

All of the others, in varying states of disbelief shouted "PROFESSOR?"


	11. Chapter 11

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Professor of what, mayhem?" Logan snorted.

"No, but you're close. Mathematics." Victor snarled. Over Logan's uncontrollable laughter, Charles glanced at Victor.

"So, you did take my advice and finish your doctorate?" He asked. Victor just nodded, never taking his glare off Logan.

"What does the girl's father have to do with anything?" Charles asked.

"I'd have left her in place if her family was reliable to protect her, but hers isn't. Her father is mentally and emotionally abusive."

"Like you'd know what that means." Logan sniped again. "Leave the...girl..." He made her gender sound obscene and Victor almost came out of the chair again. He'd had about enough out of his brother for one day. "...there, why should she be our problem?"

"Logan, that is enough. Ah know you and Victor have issues, but that is no reason to take it out on Katherine." Victor almost chuckled at the discomfort on James' face as Rogue turned on him.

"Sorry." He grumbled in Kathy's direction. Victor was looking anywhere but at the seething rage he could smell rolling off her.

"So, you brought her ta us for safety, whether she likes it or not?" Rogue asked. He gave her a curt nod. "How do you feel about that, Kathy?" Rogue's eyes moved from him to his seething companion. He was surprised at how calm the response sounded.

"Angry. I'd prefer to have been given both an explanation and a choice, but...what's done is done. I'm here, and I do need and want help with my mutation." He glanced at her. She was refusing to look at him, and he let out a low growl. She needed to understand who she belonged to.

Suddenly, James caught his eye and gave a subtle shake of his head, a signal they'd developed when they were much younger to tell each other when they were screwing something up. He glared back. If James let his woman run things that was fine for him. Victor was not going to be whipped.

"Rogue, if you would make sure our guests are comfortable in the guest suite. I don't think Victor should leave until we get the results from the test, and we run a few tests on the marks between them." Charles said. "Victor, while you are deciding your next move, I agree that you should be wary of any threats to you, or your mate. You will be welcome here as long as you need, as long as you obey my rules."

Rules, Victor snorted. As long as she was safe, for now, fine. This was a short term solution anyway.

Xxxxxxxxx

She stared at the pile of bags on the bed. She honestly didn't know where to start. She had no idea that he'd bought all this. She'd never has a full closet or dresser in her life, and she suddenly wondered if the generous furnishings in this opulent room would hold it all.

"Wow, Ah thought you'd only packed for spring break?" Rogue said as she walked into the room behind her. Kathy grabbed her small back pack and showed it to Rogue.

"I did."

"Then where'd all this...?"

"We stopped at Saks." She blushed as her stomach growled.

"Dayum. Let me get someone ta help ya unpack." Rogue glanced at the pile of bags on the bed the shouted "Oh, Jubileeeee!"

Kathy cringed at the shout, and at the bright yellow shirt the girl that responded to the "tarzan call" was wearing.

"Would ya mind unpackin that for our guest, Ah'm gonna take her to the kitchen and get her a Logan special."

"Sure, Chica...". The girl looked into the room, and the gave Kathy an appraising look. "You and I are gonna be good friends, Chica. I've beed drooling over that Wang since the line came out last week."

"Wang?" Kathy was embarrassed by another loud noise from her stomach.

"You two can discuss designers later, Ah need ta feed this girl."

"Hope you don't mind if I build a shrine in here...PRADA shoes and matching bag?" Jubilee shouted down the hallway after them. Rogue guided her to the kitchen.

"One Logan special coming up." She pulled a thawed steak out of the fridge and threw it in a searing hot skillet. A little salt and pepper, and she flipped it over. Kathy could feel her mouth starting to water. Next came the eggs, scrambled, with salsa and hot pepper sauce. The steak was dropped on a plate and the eggs piled on top until you couldn't see the meat. Then the whole thing was covered in cheese and jalapeño peppers and popped into the oven to melt.

Kathy was practically drooling when the concoction was dropped in front of her.

"So just nod or shake your head till you think you can talk." Rogue said as she sat down across from Kathy at the island counter. Kathy picked up the fork and knife and cut off a bite.

"So you and Creed are mated?" Kathy shrugged. She didn't know and frankly didn't care. She didn't seem to have any say in anything right now.

"Have you...you know?" She glared at Rogue and shook her head. Did the woman not understand, he was her Professor. She wouldn't put her degree at risk like that.

"Has your mutation been active long?" She shook her head and mumbled around a mouth full of the delicious food. "About three weeks."

"Three weeks? We have a feral that started about six months ago and isn't as fully manifested as you."

Kathy shrugged, and swallowed the food in her mouth. "Creed says its because I'm older."

"That's possible, how old are you?"

"Twenty-two." She took another bite. This was really good and seemed to finally satisfy the deep hunger inside her.

"Its the peppers. Any time Logan over extends his healing, he needs more than meat to rebuild what the body lost."

Kathy suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired. "And now the drowsies. You brought her here, you carry her ta bed." She felt herself being lifted up, but everything went blank.

Xxxxxxxxxx

He looked at her curled up against his chest, sound asleep. They understood, and would see to it she got everything she needed to get her healing replenished and her body healed. He didn't even know about the peppers, he was going to have to see if Rogue would show him that dish.

He laid her on the bed, someone had pulled the covers back, and all he had to do was unfasten her shoes and slip her legs under the covers. He ran his fingers up her legs, thinking to unfasten her stockings when he felt a low growl. He looked up. Her normally brown eyes were pure black, and her feral was awake and on the prowl.

"Sleep." He commanded, she glared, but closed her eyes. He covered her up and slipped quietly from the room. She needed the sleep, and he wasn't going to allow her feral to ruin everything now.


	12. Chapter 12

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

LEMON ALERT! yes I know everyone is waiting for the LEMONAIDE so HERE it is!

XXXXXXXXXX

She woke up to the cacophonic sounds of children laughing abd screaming in the hallways, doors slamming, water running through the pipes and someone shouting. She curled into a fetal position on the huge bed and covered her ears with the pillow. Something Victor said the night he took her hunting clicked in her mind and she concentrated on the sound of water in the pipes. That helped, at least enough to crawl out of bed.

"Morning." He growled from the chair in her room.

"Is it? It sounds like the end of the world."

"You think this is bad, the math building has a horrible echo, so you get class changes magnified." She looked at him, really looked at him for the first time. His steel grey eyes were sunken, and dark circles framed them in his face. His facial hair was scruffy, and seemed to change color to an almost golden blonde. His eyebrows were long and unruly. He was wearing a leather shirt and pants and a long duster coat. He seemed bulkier, as if suddenly pumped up.

"Fury called last night, he needs me on a job." He explained.

"How'd you do that?" She finally asked.

"Discovered this trick about thirty years ago, I can rapidly grow my hair on my body, changes color too, all I have to do now is go feral and change the eye color and no one would recognize me." He grinned.

"Okay, that is cool."

"Not really, just something I use for survival." He shrugged it off. "Rogue said to ask if you need a Logan Special this morning."

She did a quick assessment. She wasn't ravenous, and for the first time felt actually fairly close to normal.

"Nope, I'm good." She said.

"Then get dressed, you're father's faster than I estimated. He's down stairs right now." She groaned.

"You do what you chose to do. - won't stop you if you decide to go home, just remember, if he ever hurts you - I will kill him." It was said calmly, like a math fact.

"I think I want to stay here." She said softly.

"Then you better get up and get dressed. You're telling him. You've got to face him on your own. If I did I'd rip his throat out." She nodded. There were times she felt that way.

He stood up and started to walk to the door.

"Victor, wait." She walked over to him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Leaving, taking the job for Fury." Her hand rested on his arm.

"You're mine to protect, to provide for, to take care of." He growled, shaking her hand off. "Gotta work ta do that."

"No you don't."

"Just leave it, and get dressed. Your idiot father is in the study."

"He's your idiot boss." She countered.

"No, he's not. I resigned this morning." He closed the door behind him.

Xxxxxxxxx

She had no idea just how she affected him. He slammed into his own room, only to find the last person he wanted to see sitting on. His bed.

"What do you want, Runt."

"Do you love her?" Victor glared at James.

"What kind of stupid question is that. I don't know the meaning of the word."

"Well, after sitting up last night reading those books you brought me, I beg to differ. You know it, you just don't like to admit it."

"So did they jog anything?"

"Not a damned thing, but there's no doubt its my handwriting, so I'm gonna trust it for now."

Victor shrugged. It was better than nothing

"Do you love her?"

"She's mine." He growled.

"That's not what I asked."

"That's the only answer I've got."

"Well then its a good thing you haven't gone and done something really stupid. Maybe leaving is a good thing."

"Why's that?"

"Hank got your DNA results back, and he was right, you're not related. And he talked to a friend of his in Australia, it seems, as long as the mating isn't consummated within a certain period of time, the marks fade away."

"What's the time period?"

"One to two weeks. They should start fading soon, as long as you don't do anything stupid."

"And if I do?"

"Then they are permanent." James laughed. "You dodged a bullet there. You can get out of it. No three a.m. pregnancy cravings, no nagging if you miss the laundry hamper, no kids running around making god awful noises. No doing something just to see her smile. No long snuggles on a Sunday morning while she runs her fingers over your chest. No special meals cooked just for you. Don't get me wrong, having a mate is great sex, but the permanence, well, that's barely my style...you'd go insane.". He growled at James.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, according to my journals, you like things rough, and one time only, of course most women didn't survive it for another night, but still..."

"She's got a healing factor, she'd survive." He growled.

"Yeah but you don't have to worry about it, go on this job for Fury and when you get back, it'll all be over."

"Like Hell!" He roared. He stormed out of his room, dropping the duster on the floor. By the time he reached her bathroom door all he had on was his leather pants, and those were unfastened. She was leaning over the counter as he slammed the door open.

"Victor, what the..." He picked her up, and sat her on the counter.

"Do you want out?"

"What?"

"Of the marks...do you want out?"

"I didn't think there was a choice?"

"I'm giving you one, but you better decide now."

Xxxxxxxxx

She looked at him. He seemed almost manic, frantic. His arms were trembling on either side of her on the counter and his eyes were jet black.

Did she want out? He made her feel safe. Okay she'd been thinking about her lack of choices yesterday, but to go on without him...she couldn't do it.

"No, I don't." She reached up and cupped his cheek, leaning in to brush her lips over his. In the last few weeks she'd accepted him as a permanent part of her life. She hated the way he pushed her around, but the thought of him going away hurt, not only in her gut but in the scar on her neck.

He pulled back, and looked at her strangely again. She brushed his lips again, before gently letting her tongue run over his lips. He let out a strangled moan as she licked his lips again, tasting the moisture of his mouth as his lips parted slowly. She tilted her head slightly to give her better access, and tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling him, reluctantly closer as her tongue explored his mouth while he growled low, his hands still on the bathroom counter.

He slowly got the idea that she wanted him to kiss her back, and she gave a soft encouraging growl as his tongue stroked hers. He pulled back, again, slowly.

"What the hell was that?" He said, his breath ragged, his voice with a hitch in it.

"What?" She tried not to giggle. Surely he knew what a kiss was.

"That. You did it in my office too.". He honestly looked confused.

"A kiss." She whispered.

"Never had one like that before." This time she did giggle.

"Yeah, right. Two hundred and twelve years and never been kissed."

"Never said I've never been kissed, just not like that." His voice had a strange growl.

"Well, then how have you been kissed." She laughed.

His hands moved fast, catching her face between them. His mouth possessed hers, he barely allowed her to breathe and she was tasting both of their blood as lips and tongues were caught on fangs. She whimpered and growled and when he finally let her up for air she realized her legs were wrapped around his waist, she could feel him throbbing against her core through the thin silk panties, and his hands were buried in her hair holding her where he had the best access to her mouth. Her hands were tight in his long hair that had come free of its tie.

"What the hell was that?" She whispered.

"A kiss." He said as his mouth possessed hers again. She had to admit hers was nice, his blew her mind. She didn't even whimper as she felt him at her suddenly exposed opening. He surged inside her and she cried out. It hurt, she had no idea why he hurt so much. He held still for a moment, and then started to move. She winced at the pain, but gradually it eased.

The whole time his mouth dominated her, trailing down her neck, his tongue and fangs finding her scar. She moaned as he moved deep inside her while his lips and tong and teeth drove her insane, the scar, its skin more sensitive than her nipples brushed by the coarse hair on his chest through the silk lace of her bra. Her own mouth found the scar on his neck and the feelings inside her body increased ten fold. She felt a deep rumble in his chest, and threw her head back letting his name ring from her lips as his pace increased and he pounded into her, the edges of the counter giving her just enough pain mixed with the throbbing pleasure to set her screaming again. This time the rumble grew louder, and she was nearly deafened as he let out a purely animalistic roar of pleasure and dominance.

She panted against his chest for a moment before he grabbed her from the counter, never separating their bodies, walked out to her room, and roughly dropped them both onto the bed, the impact driving him deeper into her and she cried out again, this time in pain. He stopped and looked down at her.

"You need to toughen up a bit, Kathy...it's you and me now." He growled, pulling back a bit, and starting to move again. She moaned, the sharp pain eased and the movements pushed her again, this time her claws dug into his back and she smelled his blood, pushing her again to a release that shook her entire body. He groaned and she could feel him release inside her.

She lay there panting, her legs dropped from his waist, resting on the bed as he disengaged and moved around her room. He opened drawers until he found clean panties and a bra. He growled and opened the closet and pulled out a blouse and pair of slacks and a pair of shoes.

"You're father is still downstairs." He said simply.

"Why?" She asked, still breathless as he dropped the clothes on the bed."

"Why what?" He growled at her.

"Why now?" She moved slowly, even with her healing factor she was sore. He grabbed his shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head. "Because, you're my mate, and nothing is going to change that, not your father, not Fury, not any other threat. You're my responsibility, mine to protect, mine to provide for, and yes mine to fuck. Get used to it."

Fuck...he was right, that was what it had been. She could honestly say she'd never been fucked before. Everyone she'd ever dated had been gentle, trying to prove their experience and expertise at lovemaking. They'd been nice, but none of them had given her the mind-blowing experience she'd just had. She remembered her kiss, and his hesitancy and tentativeness in it. Maybe he'd never had anyone to love or make love to him. That thought, considering his age, made her suddenly shudder with responsibility.

"Well, I'm going to say that goes both ways. If that bitch ever comes near you again, I'm ripping her fucking face off. You need someone to cook for you, whatever Rogue cooked yesterday fixed me right up, and I'm going to learn from her so I can take care of both of us, so guess what, Creed. You're my responsibility, mine to protect and care for and provide for, and mine to fuck - and make love to when the mood strikes me, so get fucking used to it...you're going to have to soften up a bit."

He glared at her, and then, grudgingly nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

A little darker side of the X-Men comes out in this, but I've always considered Xavier a master manipulator.

XXXXXXXXXX

She took a deep breath before opening the study door. He was standing, staring out the window.

"Hi Dad."

"Don't you even try to pretend this is a normal situation. I should have expected something like this, a boy would have been sensible." He turned, glaring at her.

"I want you to go change your clothes, you look like a street walker, and get in the car. You've kept me waiting for almost two hours already and the fare for the cab is coming out of your allowance. I just hope Johnson is still interested in you after running off to this den of inequity."

"No." She said it softly. He puffed up, his face turning red in his rage.

"What did you say to me?"

"I said, no." She was firmer this time, but knew she was radiating fear. Since she was a child he made her feel insignificant, never worthy of his love and affection, and she always caved, hoping next time it would be different.

"You will do what I say, young lady. Now go change."

"No. I'm twenty-two, I'm old enough to vote, smoke and drink, I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions." He crossed the room, using his presence and assumed authority to try to intimidate her, but somehow, after standing up to Victor, he just seemed insignificant.

"Of course, you think you can. You are nothing, a girl, you need a man to guide you. This place is full of despots, freaks, and depraved individuals. You need to get home, Johnson will put all this oddity fad in the background." He was trying to be reasonable, at least for him.

"Dad, its a school, a place to learn about this mutation I have, a place to learn to control it, as much as I can. Johnson is the depraved one, you'd better watch him groping the younger students, he's going to get a statutory rape charge if he's not careful." She snapped back.

"You don't need to learn anything except what I've had to teach you, and if you don't get changed and in that cab in the next ten minutes, I'm going to have to remind you, again, who is in charge in this family." He took a step closer, and she knew he expected her to cower back. "What would your mother say?"

She looked him in the eye for the first time in years. He'd flat pushed her too far. "I'd hope she'd support me in trying to find help to learn about my mutation. I'd hope she'd support me in making my own choices about my life, and I'd hope like hell she'd have divorced you years ago. She's lucky she died and only had to put up with you for fourteen years. I wish she was here to help me throw you out."

She didn't see it coming and wouldn't have ducked if she had. She could smell Victor on the other side of the door and instinctively knew he would burst in at the first sign of trouble. She hit the floor, the entire right side of her face throbbing. She stood up slowly, and glared at her father, watching the shock as her split lip healed before his eyes, the black eye fading and the broken cheekbone knitting back into place. He wasn't a ninety pound weakling, he'd boxed in high school and college and still boxed on the weekends. The look of terror on his face was priceless, and almost as pleasant as the look when Victor burst in the door with a deep rumbling growl.

"I'd do what he says." She said to her dad. He looked at her, confusion on his face. "Do you want me to translate?"

Her dad took another step towards her and Victor stepped between them, the growl rumbling at an almost sub-sonic level.

"You are both going to regret this. Your career is over, Creed." Even she was shocked at the good natured laugh from Victor.

"Yes it is, I resigned this morning, citing inappropriate emotional attachment to a student. They were shocked, but understanding. I doubt you can do anything to fuck that up, but you're welcome to try. They are going to have some interesting questions for you, after they see the video tape of this little meeting. It should be running on YouTube right now, and I sent the President the link." The growl was under every word, building slowly.

"I also sent him the file on your wife's death, with the real coroner's report, the one that had the broken facial bones and broken arm and ribs. Kathy's lucky to have made it to adulthood, and now - she's mine, and since a dumb fuck like you can't seem to understand the meaning of protect, I'll do the translating. KEEP YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY MATE." The last was in a roar so loud she was sure they heard him in the next county.

"You'll regret this." Her dad muttered again, but fled out the door. Victor put a hand on her shoulder, and she turned, all the bravado gone. She grabbed handfuls of his shirt and buried her face in his chest, tears running down her cheeks, shoulders and legs shaking. She felt his arms wrap around her, and she had the fleeting thought, was she going from the frying pan into the fire?

XXXXXXXXXXX

He held her against his chest, not really sure what he was supposed to do. He could smell the salt of her tears and it made him want to kill something, not that he wasn't already at that point. She was trembling and he could feel her legs give way. He picked her up and carried her over to the window seat. He was leaning over her when he felt the blow to his head.

He turned around, and glared at the man with the fire poker.

"You asshole, don't know when to leave well enough alone." He hissed, picking Gracefield up by his throat. Charles wheeled into the room and the only thing that stopped Victor from killing the bastard was the telepath.

"Let him go, Victor. He cannot do any more damage, he will leave, I will see to it."

"What's to stop him from coming back and hurting her again?" Victor snarled, and the only thing that caused him to lower the bastard to the ground was her hand on his arm.

"I will." Charles said.

"You make him shrivel up any time he thinks about her, any time he even considers hurting her you make him impotent for a year." Victor snarled.

"Victor...you know that is not..."

"Do it or I'll kill him." Victor said, calmly. The beast was out and ready to defend his mate.

Charles just nodded, and Gracefield dropped to the ground, clutching his groin and moaning. Victor leaned down. "And don't think I won't be watching. The first time you hurt anyone else, you will die on my claws...and she won't be able to stop me."

He turned and looked at her. She'd pulled herself up, and was standing behind him. She watched, her eyes solid black, as her father crawled across the floor and out the door.

"He won't do that again." Victor said simply.

"I know." She whispered, her lip trembling.

She shook her head, and he knew she was compartmentalizing, pushing what happened back to deal with later, only knowing her she wouldn't. "Are you still taking the job with Fury?"

"I got a mate to support, gotta work." He growled.

"We can return some things, sell the jewelry..." She started. He could smell her fear.

He growled. She thought it was the money. How could he convince her it was the whole concept of providing for her, protecting her. If he worked for Fury, then Fury wouldn't come after her.

"I'll be back by Saturday. Xavier can help you move your credits up to a school near here, you don't have to give up your degree, or hell change majors if you want, don't go to school, I don't care." He growled, and walked to the door.

"Victor."

"I've gotta do this. I am not repeating myself." He walked out the door. He felt like something inside him was being ripped open as he smelled the salt of her tears, but he kept walking. She was going to have to get used to him going off to work, it kept her safe.

XXXXXXXXX

Kathy sat in the window seat. He'd given her the best sex of her life, threatened to kill her father and just walked out, and she didn't know if he'd be back or not. She heard Xavier's wheels leave the room and she buried her head in her hands.

"Hey, what'd that asshole do now?" Rogue asked as she walked in the door.

"He left."

"Did he...did you?" Rogue actually blushed a little.

"You didn't hear us?"

"The guest suites are sound proofed. Only a feral can hear anything inside them, and even ferals can't hear anything from the outside. Xavier designed them that way so there'd be someplace private."

"Oh." She shrugged. Better no one had heard anyway, and Rogue wouldn't say anything, she hoped.

"So you did?" Rogue sat down next to her on the seat.

"What does it matter, he's gone." She whispered.

"Gone?"

"He left to do a job." Kathy whispered. "I don't know if he'll be back."

"Oh he'll be back, you're here." Rogue said, putting her arm around Kathy's shoulders.

"Somehow I don't believe that."

"Sugar, you're his mate, he doesn't have a choice. Once you guys had sex, that was it, permanent bond. He'll be back."

"You mean we had to...It wasn't permanent?" She groaned. He could have gotten out, wouldn't have felt responsible for her anymore... "Did he know?"

"Yes. Logan told him it wasn't permanent unless it was consummated." Rogue grinned. "Of course he coulda waited till he got back, but Logan thought a little urgency was in order."

"How long would it have stayed? If we hadn't...?"

"A couple months to a year." Rogue grinned. "Hungry?"

Kathy just glared at her. Who did these people think they were, manipulating them like this.


	14. Chapter 14

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

A little darker side of the X-Men comes out in this, but I've always considered Xavier a master manipulator.

XXXXXXXXXX

She managed to get through Friday. She called the university and had them fax her the forms for withdrawal, and growled when she saw the grade on the mid term calculus test, a B minus. If he hadn't distracted her while taking the test she would have aced it. She managed the paperwork without having to deal with most of the inhabitants of the nut house she was living in.

Xavier kept trying to get in her head, she knew because he had a frown line on his forehead every time he looked at her and she'd heard him talking to the woman they called Storm about how she was as hard to read as Victor.

Rogue kept trying to play nice, but she wasn't buying the act. Her scent was off, mostly scared when she was supposed to be relaxed, and any time Kathy showed any sign of her mutation other than the obvious, Rogue was as jumpy as a cat. She did give Kathy a few recipes designed to help the healing factor recover quickly.

Logan growled at her most of the time, but sometimes tried to play nice, usually because Rogue reminded him that Kathy was as close as family, and they needed her help to try to control Victor.

It was funny how telepaths and other ferals forgot just how sensitive her ears were. After the first few inadvertent snippets, she started listening for low tones of voice and whispers. By the end of the day she had a good idea what the X-Men's plan was.

They were going to try to get her locked into something, either classes at a university nearby or working on some project at the school, so that he'd feel obligated to stay and play nice and join the team and be 'reformed' in the image of The Wolverine. She knew he'd snort at that. She hated manipulation, she'd lived with it for too long to put up with it any more.

And then there were the kids, they gave her a perpetual headache. They were loud, they stank, they left a feeling as if she were being hunted by a pack of hyenas, and the yellow kid, Jubilee was the worst.

Instead of talking to her, they listened to that bubble gum chewing, fashioned crazed perpetual teen ager to decide what she liked. No one asked if she liked the clothes Victor bought her, they just assumed she'd bought them, and that she and Jubilee would be fast friends because of it. They had no idea that what she really wanted was her old ragged T-shirts and jeans, and to curl up someplace quiet with a book, but there wasn't any place completely quiet in the entire mansion, not even her own sound-proofed rooms. They thought she'd settle in and just be 'one of them.'

Nothing could be further from the truth, and if he didn't get his ass back here and take her someplace else, she was grabbing her backpack and leaving, his selfish ass could find her.

By the end of the day she was exhausted. She knew he would be back tomorrow, and she wanted to be rested. She was going to have to fight with him, to get him to take her someplace else and she was going to need all her energy to be able to stand up to him again.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Marrakesh was a nightmare, not only did Fury's target not stay put, he wasn't in any of the locations Victor had been given. He'd spent the entire day just tracking the asshole down, then, after killing the bitch with the target, Victor realized he didn't even have time to make it a 'good' kill. He couldn't play with the little mousie like he wanted.

He did take the time for a small incision and pull the target's intestines out and play with them, but when he figured out he was trying to spell her name with in intestines, he just slashed the asshole's throat, took the picture for Fury to get paid, and ran straight to the airport where Toad was waiting.

He promised her he'd be home by Saturday, and was not going to break his word to her, hell he wanted to get home to her as soon as possible.

He put up with Toad's teasing back to Newark, and climbed into the limo for the ride to the school. On the seat of the limo was an envelope with his name on it. He opened it and stared in shock at the pictures of her day at the mansion. The note with them simply said "Tomorrow, 1:30, Xavier's, have another job for you." He had to get her out of there, and where Fury had no influence or eyes. He was so angry he was ready to kill something.

The door to the school was locked and he growled and pounded until James opened the door.

"You're back early."

"Just get out of my way." James stepped back, chuckling. If the Runt didn't quit he'd be chuckling out his ass. Victor let out another growl and headed straight to the guest suite.

He opened the door wanting nothing more than to grab her up, fuck her till she screamed, and then drop into dreamless sleep for a few hours. The living area was empty, and he snarled as he walked to the door of his bedroom. He glared at the empty bed for a moment, then felt a roar building in his throat. Where the hell was she?

He dropped his duster on the floor and walked to the other bedroom door of the suite and kicked it in.

"Did I tell you to sleep in here. You belong in MY fucking bed." He roared at her sleeping form on the bed.

"What the hell are you yelling about?" She said as she sat up in the bed.

He couldn't take it, the rage inside him exploded, he grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on, a small iron vase, and slammed it across the room. He watched in slow motion as she sat up further, putting herself right in the path of the projectile. He saw blood splatter, and heard her mew of pain as she clutched her head.

He knew she'd heal but he immediately dived for her, pulling her hands away. He watched the small gash knit and felt his own hands trembling. How the hell was he going to protect her when he couldn't even protect her from himself.

As soon as the bleeding stopped he pulled back. He was as bad as the assholes he was trying to save her from. Her father had treated her like shit and Fury wouldn't be much better. He stood slowly, backing away from her. She was still cowering on the bed, as soon as he'd moved she'd covered her head with her arms and curled away from him.

He stormed into his room and grabbed his pack. He started shoving everything he owned into it, regardless. His expensive suits he just shoved into the top after his duster and other hunting gear that he'd left behind. He was the fucking monster, he couldn't even have a mate without turning into the same kind of abusive bastard her father was, and if he wasn't here, if Fury thought he'd deserted her, she'd be safe.

She'd be better off without him. Xavier would make sure she was safe, would be able to finish school. He'd stay away, forever. She didn't need anymore abuse, especially from him. He was her mate, supposed to protect her and her cubs from harm, keep her safe, keep her...he stopped, dropping the Brooks Brothers jacket in his hand onto the floor and stared at the moisture on the cloth. He could smell salt in the air, but it didn't smell like her.

He looked at his hands as another drop fell, splashing against his palm He looked up at the ceiling, but there was no leak. Where was the damned salty stuff coming from. He felt a strange sensation in the back of his eyes, a burning he'd never felt before. With it came the sensation of a small trickle down his cheek, and another drop onto the wadded up wool on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" He could smell her fear and anger but was so absorbed in the strange liquid he didn't really notice her except in an abstract way.

He felt a strange weakness in his legs, and tried to answer her but his voice only came out in a harsh stutter, something he'd only ever heard from frails or targets, it sounded like a sob.

He tried again, "I have to go, you can't be safe with me. I have to keep you safe." He started repeating it, over and over as he bent down to pick up the jacket and stuff it in the bag. As another drop landed on it he realized where the liquid was coming from, his own eyes.

"YOU ARE NOT LEAVING ME HERE!" She roared, he couldn't have stopped her if he'd wanted to. Her fists pounded into his chest, his face, her claws cut his flesh, and he just stood there, knowing she deserved her rage. He wasn't any better than her father, a man he hated because of the harm done to his mate, and yet, Victor had already drawn her blood

He just stood there, even as the door burst in, and James came roaring into the room, blades flashing from his hands.

"Get away from her you bastard." James roared, then paused. Victor couldn't imagine how it looked but it shook him out of his daze. He grabbed Kathy's shoulders, pushing her back, as her claws slashed across his face again.

"Calm down." He said, in the softest voice he'd used in a long time, then shook her gently. Her eyes were pure black. He didn't know if he could get through to the animal in her without hurting her.

She seemed to take a deep breath, and glared at him, hate flowing off of her. "Fine, be a fucking coward and run. Leave me here, I won't stay. I'll be gone if you ever decide to come back. I hate it here, hate them all." She hissed every word, and he saw James switch targets.

She shook of Victor's hands and turned, claws still out. Victor could smell the defeat on her, but James was still in full battle mode. He could see the muscles in his brother's legs bunching for a lunge at what James saw as a threat. He moved, but not before the lunge started. Victor threw himself between James and Kathy, the blades plunging into his chest, her claws ripping into him from behind and he let out a roar of pain, and rage.

"Don't you EVER touch my mate." He shrugged her off, and pushed her back with one hand. He grabbed James by the throat with the other, and even with the extra weight of the metal on his skeleton lifted him up off the ground.

"Victor." He glared at Charles as he wheeled into the broken door way.

"GET OUT!"

Victor felt James's blades pierce his neck, he could feel the cold metal against his spine and knew it was the only way to protect her. He couldn't keep hurting her, it was tearing something deep inside him, something he hadn't felt since Jimmy left him with Stryker in the jungle. He remembered what James asked him the day before, did he love her, and suddenly he knew the answer. Yes. He glared at James. "Do it, Jimmy. KILL ME! Break this fucking bond with her. DO IT!"

Suddenly James's hands were bladeless, the cut on Victor's neck seeping blood as it closed.

"Put him down, Victor." Charles said quietly. Victor slowly lowered James to the floor. He could hear the hissing and spitting from the wild cat behind him, and knew she'd reverted to full feral. He had to stop her from attacking the old man. He turned, to reach for her and she lunged, at him.

"You hate me so much you wanted him to kill you." She hissed in her rage, her claws slashing into his face. He grabbed her hands, twisted her arms and secured her claws behind her back.

"No." He said quietly. The calm voice seemed to calm her for a second. "I can't protect you...I love you enough to let you go." He whispered the last.

He didn't notice anyone leaving the room, just the smell of salt, this time he knew what they were. The tears flowing down his face as her lips brushed his.

"You don't have to protect me, just love me." She whispered. "We'll work out the protection stuff later. But don't you ever leave me here again."

"If you'll promise not to ever sleep in any bed but mine again." he whispered back. He didn't know where he was going to take her, or how to keep her safe from his own animal, but she was right, they'd work it out.


	15. Chapter 15

Okay I had another one hit me. Yes I know I have unfinished ones, and blame the blockage monster - and a few real world blockages - at least the creative juices are flowing in some direction.

Summary: We all know that the most successful hunters, serial killers, and psychopaths hide in plain sight, successfully blending in with normal society. Logically, Sabretooth should follow that trend. I've written him in a normal environment before, but not like this. 25 years after Origins, Origins Sabretooth/Victor CreedXOC. (Yes that puts him 'working' during X1, I am assuming the events of X1 took place over spring break, and that Creed has some control of how to alter his appearance so he is not 'recognized' in his 'day job.')

Disclaimer: I don't own them, no really I don't. I swear I make nothing off of this except the satisfaction to get some sick stuff out of my head safely.

A little darker side of the X-Men comes out in this, but I've always considered Xavier a master manipulator.

XXXXXXXXXX

He released her hands slowly, hoping the rage was finally gone. Her arms slipped around his neck, pulling him to her, her lips gentle on his in one of her kisses. He groaned, hands resting on her hips, uncertain exactly what to do. He could smell her, the fear, the rage, the pain just under the surface and he knew if he took control it would hurt her again.

"Kathy, please..." He whispered, not even realizing exactly what he was saying. "...I don't know what you want, I don't know what you need."

"I want you. I need you. Nothing else matters." She whispered, her head resting on his shoulder.

"I don't know if I can be everything, give you everything you need." His arms wrapped around her, involuntarily.

"As long as you are with me, we will figure the rest out together." She whispered. He stroked up and down her spine, the soft supple feel of her shirt made him take a second look. She was wearing his extra hunting shirt, the one he'd just made. It smelled like him, without the blood. He'd made it from the hides from her hunting trip, and he realized it belonged on her.

He picked her up by her hips, feeling her legs wrap around his waist, as her head rested on his shoulder, her soft breath brushing his the scar she'd marked him with. He could feel need surging through him and he turned and walked to the bed. He suddenly felt something he'd only felt a few times...fear. He didn't want to hurt her, he could smell how much she needed him and he was afraid he would break her if he took what he wanted, not physically, he'd proven to himself she could take him, but somehow he was worried about how she was feeling, and he didn't want to break her spirit.

He laid her gently on the bed, her hands never unclasping from his neck as his body covered hers. She was wearing nothing but the shirt and his hands brushed the soft doeskin up from her hips, her skin velvet under his fingertips.

"Victor?" She whispered and he smelled salt but this time it was from her.

"What?" He managed not to growl it at her.

"Are you going to leave me here?"

"No. I had no idea you didn't like it here, Darlin' or I never would have left you in the first place. I just wanted you safe." He looked down at her, swallowing his fear, and looking into her eyes. He could read her fear, but something else, something that made him feel small and insignificant but as tall as a mountain at the same time.

"I only want to be safe with you, and away from these damned kids." She laughed a little at the last.

"They are noisy." He agreed, watching her smile. He leaned down and brushed her lips with his again, he wasn't sure what to do next but from her scent, and the way her mouth opened to him, he knew he'd made a right move. He kept his movements slow, straining every bit of control he had as she kissed him. He wanted to take her, right then, wanted to thrust deep and mark her again as his, this time with his seed deep in her belly, but she seemed to want something else, and somehow he wanted to give her what she wanted.

She finally let him breathe, and he rubbed his thumbs over her bare hip bones, not really sure what to do next.

"Promise me, you'll take me with you, next time you go." He heard the plea in her voice, and his chest tightened. She never had to beg, not from him...not now...now she was his mate, and something more. She had somehow managed to find something in him that didn't want to rend and tear and destroy, and pulled it kicking and screaming to the surface. And he had no idea what to do with it.

"I'll do better than that..." He wanted to put the breaks on his mouth but somehow it ran away with him. "From now on, kid, its just you and me. We make decisions together."

"Really?" She gave him a look that said she had more humor than doubt in her mind.

"Really." He rolled over, pulling her with him so she was on top of him, straddling him and he could feel her moist heat even through his leather pants. "Marry me, kid."

"What?"

"You heard me." He wasn't about to say those words again.

"Yes." She whispered, leaning down to kiss him, her way again. He groaned as his hands slipped under the leather and up her bare back, whipping the shirt off as she sat up to breathe. He grinned as she sat back, the grin turning to a growling moan as she ground her hips against him.

"Kathy." Her name came out strangled. "I don't know how to do this..."

"Do what?" She asked but he could see the gleam in her eye. Oh she knew...

"Take it slow." He purred it, and basked in her scent as her arousal spiked.

"Then let me show you." She purred back and he moaned again, this time as his pants were released, and he felt the dry heat of her hands wrap around him. He moaned louder as she slowly lowered herself onto him, and rocked softly until she had him firmly seated at the entrance to her womb.

He lost track of thought, and the only fleeting one he would later remember, was that he needed to let her do this more often.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

She stretched as she opened her eyes. She was curled onto the hollow of his body, his arm draped over her protectively. She snuggled closer as he grumbled in her ear.

She heard the noise that woke her up again, someone was knocking on the locked suite door. She tried to pull away from him but he pulled her closer. She could feel him pressed against her back, and knew he wasn't going to listen to reason again.

She heard the key in the lock as he did. He sat straight up and almost shoved her behind him on the bed.

"You have company" Logan growled, "you might want to get dressed."

Victor just nodded, and waited for Logan to leave.

"Stay here, I'll deal with Fury." He snarled the name.

"No. We agreed to do things together, and I need to face Fury myself."

"Kathy..." He started, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Either together or not at all.". He growled for a moment, but nodded his head. He reached for the leather pants on the floor. "No. Wear a suit, it will throw him off."

She jumped out of the bed and ran across the suite to her room. She grabbed a dress out of the closet and quickly pulled herself together. She debated a quick shower, but decided she liked his scent on her skin, and if Fury could smell the sex on them, then he'd be even more uncomfortable. He didn't hold a leash on Victor, now, and if she could keep him off balance, he never would again.

She pulled her hair up into a tight, professional bun, and put on some of her rarely used makeup. She heard him whistle from the door.

"Damn, woman, you clean up good." She grinned at him, the tailored suit fitted him perfectly.

"Let's do this.". He held out his arm and she took it with exaggerated care. His chuckle vibrated through her body. After last night, she felt more confident with him. He couldn't hurt her, the bond wouldn't let him, she was safer with him than she'd been her entire life, now if they could only find someplace safe for both of them to live their life.

Fury was standing in the study, his back to the door, looking out over the grounds.

"I need you in Belize in six hours..." Fury started as he turned. She hid her smile at his surprise when he caught sight of her.

"Nick Fury, my finance, Kathy Gracefield." Victor said with perfect courtesy. He could hear the purr of satisfaction in his voice. She could smell the change in Fury, see the slight change in the set of his shoulders as if his position wasn't as secure as he thought.

He just nodded at her, his single eye glinting in suppressed rage. "Belize?" He turned his gaze back to Victor.

"Not without some re-negotiation.". Victor said as he made himself comfortable in one of the leather easy chairs of a conversation group. She sat down in the other, her fingers resting inches away from his on the table between them.

"Nego...you know I could throw your ass in jail, I'm sure I could find some reason to put your little playmate...". He didn't finish. Victor moved from relaxed to full combat mode in a split second.

"You even look at her funny, Fury, and SHIELD will be looking for a new director." His hands were around Fury's throat and Kathy watched beads of sweat break out on his ebony brow.

"I suppose there is some room for negotiation." Fury croaked as Victor set him down on the floor.

Victor took his seat again and looked at Kathy. She smiled at him, then turned to the disgruntled man in front of her.

"What are the current terms of Victor's employment?"

"One thousand per mission completed, five hundred bonus if completed early, and with no ripples." Fury said, rubbing his throat.

"That absolutely will not do. Victor, what is your normal, non-government rate?" She never took her eyes off Fury.

"One hundred thousand per kill.". He stated bluntly. "With a one million dollar retainer for continuous work."

Fury sputtered. "We're a government agency, we can't pay that."

"Half his normal rate, or two thirds his normal retainer, or we sever the contract with SHIELD and go with the highest bidder." She said. Fury sputtered again.

"Impossible, besides, I still have dirt on him." Now he was grinning.

"Actually, you don't. The charges from 7 years ago aren't prosecute able now and the only other thing you might have on him, he did under orders from you, so..."

Fury sat down on the sofa of the grouping. "Letting your woman talk for you, Creed?"

"She seems to know what she's doing.". His fingers moved to cover her hand on the table.

"I can do ten thousand per mission, or a one hundred thousand retainer." Fury stated, through clenched teeth.

"No deal, that barely covers his expenses for one mission." She glared back. She managed to hide her jump of surprise when there was a loud beep from Fury's coat. He pulled out a phone.

"Fury."

"Give the girl the phone, you SUCK at negotiations." She heard a male voice on the phone. Fury handed her the slim black phone. She clicked the speaker function.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"Tony?" Victor said.

"Hey, Vic, long time.". She looked at Victor. He grinned at her and she could smell relief. "So, my offer is your regular rate plus ten percent plus accommodations for you and your girl there."

"Working for Stark Industries? - don't think so." Victor said.

"No, for my Avengers Program. Its kinds like the X-men without as many rules."

Kathy spoke up. "Any kids running around?"

"No, we'd put you in a cottage on the grounds, with full access to the motor pool for transportation."

"Cottage and a car and you've got a deal." Victor said.

"When can you be in California?"

"Next week."

They both glared at Fury but he just shrugged. "Stark can pay more, but you'll still be doing work for us. Welcome to the Avengers."

A/N

Yes this is actually the end... I may continue their adventures with the Avengers but I've got another actually more complex storyline working in my head - again.


End file.
